Valorization of Food Waste as Animal Feed: A Step towards Sustainable Food Waste Management and Circular Bioeconomy

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Have you ever thrown away food that you didn’t eat? Most people do this all around the world but throwing away food can actually harm the environment. One way to reduce this harm is by turning the food scraps into animal feed. This not only helps the environment but also makes livestock production cheaper. Different technologies have been developed to make a safe and healthy animal feed from food waste. This helps us to get rid of waste by giving animals a new source of protein and recycling the discarded food waste. This article talks about how to turn food waste into animal food and its advantages. However, it is important to make sure the feed is of high quality and safe for the animals. It is also important to do research and development to make even better food-waste-based animal feed by reducing production costs and waste disposal, thereby making things better for both the animals and the environment. Overall, using food waste as animal food is a good waste management idea that provides food security and preserves the environment. So, next time when you have some leftover food, remember that it could be turned into something useful instead of being thrown away. ABSTRACT: The growing population and healthy food demands have led to a rise in food waste generation, causing severe environmental and economic impacts. However, food waste (FW) can be converted into sustainable animal feed, reducing waste disposal and providing an alternative protein source for animals. The utilization of FW as animal feed presents a solution that not only tackles challenges pertaining to FW management and food security but also lessens the demand for the development of traditional feed, which is an endeavour that is both resource and environmentally intensive in nature. Moreover, this approach can also contribute to the circular economy by creating a closed-loop system that reduces the use of natural resources and minimizes environmental pollution. Therefore, this review discusses the characteristics and types of FW, as well as advanced treatment methods that can be used to recycle FW into high-quality animal feed and its limitations, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of using FW as animal feed. Finally, the review concludes that utilization of FW as animal feed can provide a sustainable solution for FW management, food security, preserving resources, reducing environmental impacts, and contributing to the circular bioeconomy.