A Win-Win for the Food Industry

The problem of food waste is starting to get more mainstream press as of late.  Last Week Tonight's John Oliver even highlighted food waste in our own Salinas Valley in his 2015 episode on food waste:


Entire blogs and YouTube channels are dedicated to people who sustain themselves by pulling perfectly good food out of the waste stream, to feed themselves for free.

Although there is no one cause of food waste, and therefore no "quick fix", Turning Leaf Ranch is happy to have partnered with Drew Massa Transportation, to collect human-grade produce that would otherwise go to waste.  We have fed our animals with Salinas Valley produce for years, and this year, given the steep increase in processing fees we recently experienced, we will increase our efforts in this area, to help offset our feed costs.

We are highly selective of the produce we feed to the animals.  We only feed leafy greens, not including brassicas, which can influence the flavor of the meat.  Although the feed is low in total calories, it is high in minerals, and the calories it does have are mostly carbohydrates, which are sorely needed in the lean summer months.

Other producers take all manner of food waste for their animals, including stale bread, and spent brewer's grains.  These starchy products tend to produce rapid weight gains, but which are largely in the form of extra fat.  The flavor of the meat becomes more bland, and the texture becomes softer and infirm.  The fat profile also shifts to a higher omega 6 (less healthy) over omega 3 (more healthy) profile.  For these, and other reasons, we limit this type of inputs to healthy, human-grade leafy greens:


The upshot, of course, is that we simultaneously reduce food waste, while building high-quality protein.  While it is a tremendous amount of work to collect, distribute, and otherwise handle this produce, we believe it is a win-win for TLR, the distributors (who would otherwise pay to dump the produce), the landfill, and society as a whole.




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