Gelderland regional minister sees upcycling in action  

How can valuable side streams from food production be turned into ingredients for everyday food products? On 29 October, Helga Witjes, Regional Minister of the Province of Gelderland, visited Qrackers in Druten to see how businesses are putting this ambition into practice with biscuits and crackers, one of the key product categories within the UPcycled4Food initiative.

During the visit, organised by Foodvalley, businesses and value chain partners discussed the opportunities and challenges of food upcycling. At Qrackers, which produces biscuits for UPcycled4Food partner Van Eigen Deeg, participants gained insight into what it takes to develop, manufacture and scale up food products using upcycled ingredients.

Upcycling in practice

Food upcycling offers opportunities to make better use of valuable resources that might otherwise go to waste. But turning side streams into ingredients that can be used in food products at scale takes more than a good idea. It requires collaboration across the entire value chain, from sourcing and processing to product development, manufacturing and market introduction.

The collaboration between Van Eigen Deeg, Qrackers and various producers and suppliers of upcycled ingredients and side streams demonstrates how this works in practice. Van Eigen Deeg develops a range of biscuits containing ingredients such as upcycled apple, brewer’s spent grain, spent coffee grounds and cranberry seeds. Qrackers brings the manufacturing expertise needed to produce these biscuits at a larger scale. In this way, valuable side streams find a new purpose in products for the consumer market.

During the tour of the production facility, participants gained insight into the manufacturing process and the practical challenges of producing upcycled products. The visit also highlighted how manufacturing these high-quality products not only helps make better use of food resources, but also creates employment opportunities for people who face barriers to entering the labour market.

From product development to scaling up and market adoption

The visit also included a roundtable discussion with several suppliers of upcycled ingredients used in Van Eigen Deeg’s biscuits, produced by Qrackers: Berrico FoodCompany for cranberry seeds, Caffe Inc. for coffee oil, and BioMasters in collaboration with Yespers for apple flour. The discussion focused on how promising upcycled innovations can move beyond individual products to become widely adopted solutions in the food market.

For manufacturers, retailers and foodservice operators, understanding the value of upcycled ingredients is essential. These ingredients can help prevent the loss of food-grade resources, while also potentially improving the nutritional value of products, reducing environmental impacts compared with existing alternatives, and creating regional economic opportunities and social value.

“In Gelderland, many innovative entrepreneurs are working on solutions to make our food production more sustainable and future-proof. Van Eigen Deeg and Qrackers demonstrate how valuable side streams can be used to create new products. But bringing innovations like these to the next level requires collaboration across the entire value chain. Initiatives such as UPcycled4Food help build these connections and enable the transition towards large-scale adoption.”

Helga Witjes, Regional Minister of the Province of Gelderland (draft quote, subject to approval)

UPcycled4Food: accelerating the transition

Manufacturers, retailers and foodservice operators need clear insights into the value of upcycled ingredients to make informed decisions and enable adoption at scale. In the second phase of UPcycled4Food, these potential benefits are being further investigated and substantiated through independent impact assessments, which will form the basis for new product-specific value propositions.

This will provide a clearer understanding of where upcycled ingredients genuinely add value and what this means for product development and wider market acceptance.

“Products such as the upcycled apple biscuit show how Van Eigen Deeg, Qrackers and the innovative businesses supplying upcycled ingredients can turn valuable side streams into appealing consumer products. To scale up these applications and make them more mainstream, Foodvalley is focusing on strengthening market acceptance. Through UPcycled4Food, we bring partners together and develop the knowledge and evidence businesses need to take that next step.”

Caroline Duivenvoorden, Foodvalley

From side streams to valuable ingredients

The visit underlined the importance of collaboration between businesses, networks and governments in accelerating circular food innovation.

Several of the products and ingredients featured during the visit will be further investigated as part of the second phase of UPcycled4Food. Over the coming months, the impact assessments will provide more concrete evidence of where these products create value, enabling manufacturers, retailers and foodservice operators to make better-informed decisions about further adoption and scaling up.

From side stream to value stream.

This is what UPcycled4Food is working towards: providing actionable knowledge and evidence to help businesses move from promising innovations to widespread adoption in the food market.

Discover how UPcycled4Food brings partners together to accelerate food upcycling and create more value across the food system. More about the UPcycled4Food Initative.

New partners can still join one or more Phase 2 working groups free of charge and contribute practical knowledge, data and feedback. Please contact Foodvalley if you would like to explore how your organisation can contribute to this work and benefit from the resulting insights. 

UPcycled4Food Phase 2 is supported by Laudes Foundation and Provincie Gelderland.