UPcycled4Food Initiative
Shaping market demand for upcycled food & ingredients
Upcycled products and ingredients should be widely adopted by food manufacturers, on supermarket shelves and food service offerings. That’s the goal of the UPcycled4Food Initiative, launched by Foodvalley’s Upcycling Community.
Together with international partners, we create benchmarks and provide impact data to prove the true value of upcycled food & ingredients. This gives food manufacturers, retailers and foodservice organisations a stronger basis for choosing upcycled solutions and helps turn their potential into real market demand. Our ambition is clear: a future where upcycled food & ingredients are widely adopted and increasingly become the preferred choice.
News
Events
A phased approach towards mainstream adoption
1. Stable side stream (volume, food grade, consistent)
2. Right technology and parties to deliver food grade ingredient
3. Solves off-taker need(s)
4. Scalable (economically & operatially feasible)
Side streams are at different development stages. However, various side streams are ready to scale.
The role of Foodvalley is to connect what is emerging with what is established, helping promising solutions become the new normal faster.
Phase 1: Reference Products
- Select impactful product types: Bakery & Confectionery & Meat & Dairy Alternatives
- Associate value propositions
product & channel-specific
(retail/foodservice) - Identify upcycled alternatives to
the main ingredients in each product
Phase 2: Impact Assessments (IA)
- Select third-party IA experts
- Drive comparative assessments on virgin vs. upcycled formulations in these dimensions:
– economic
– sensory
– nutritional
– environmental
– social - Articulate & share compelling value
propositions
Phase 3: Scaling & Standardisation
- Expand to new product categories & regions based on market readiness & stakeholder interest
- Consolidate shared tools &
guidelines on upcycled food assessment - Promote adoption across sectors
for mainstream integration into
procurement & policy
Interested in joining the UPcycled4Food initiative?
We are looking for organisations that want to share expertise, contribute insights and data, bring forward relevant products or use cases, and help shape practical approaches to assessing the value and impact of upcycled solutions.
By bringing different perspectives from across the value chain together, we can build a stronger evidence base and develop value propositions that better connect promising upcycled solutions with the needs of the market. Interested in contributing to this next step for upcycled food? Please contact us!
Caroline Duivenvoorden
Programme Manager
Circular Agrifood
- caroline.duivenvoorden@foodvalley.nl
- +31 6 588 867 79
Miriam Burnand
Project Manager
- miriam.burnand@foodvalley.nl
- +31 6 534 445 36
