What if your dog’s favorite treat could help fight climate change? In this episode of Barking Mad, we dive into the world of upcycled ingredients—nutritious, sustainable materials rescued from food waste streams and transformed into pet nutrition gold. Hosts Dr. Stephanie Clark and Jordan Tyler are joined by industry leaders from the Upcycled Food Association, Ag Alchemy, and Trashy to explore how bakery scraps, carrot shavings, and even chicken fat are being reimagined through upcycling. Learn how these “scrappy” ingredients are reshaping pet nutrition, reducing environmental impact, and turning trash into treasure. Whether you're a pet parent or a brand, this is your behind-the-scenes look at the future of sustainable pet food.

Helpful Links

♻️ Learn more about the Upcycled Food Association.

⚗️ Check out Ag Alchemy’s website here.

🥕 Learn more about Trashy and Scrapi.

👀 Search more pet nutrition brands that are Upcycled Certified: https://www.wherefoodcomesfrom.com/upcycled-products

🚮 Dig deeper into data about the global food waste problem: https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-food-waste-day

🏠 Learn how you can reduce your own food loss and waste at home: https://bsmpartners.net/insights/embracing-a-solution-mindset-for-international-day-of-food-loss-and-waste/

🛒 Read more about Turning Grocery Waste into Nutritious Pet Food Ingredients: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/turning-grocery-waste-nutritious-ingredients-bsm-partners-f1tbc/ 

📖 Research: Is there a market for upcycled pet food? https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652622005960

Show Notes

00:00 – Welcome Back!

01:38 – What Does “Upcycled” Really Mean?

04:42 – The Shocking Environmental and Economic Costs of Food Waste

07:32 – Upcycling Is Trending—Here’s Why

08:40 – The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

13:52 – Getting Trashy (And Scrapi) with Kaitlin Mogentale

16:23 – Baby Carrots and Other Examples of Waste-Generating Food Operations

20:09 – Other Upcycled Pet Food and Treat Brands Going Upcycled

21:44 – Real-World Challenges and Misconceptions

25:33 – What Do Pet Parents Really Think About Upcycled Foods?

29:02 – Lessons Learned Along the Way

31:17 – Making Upcycling More Widely Available & Accessible

32:55 – Other Upcycling Trends for Coffee and Chocolate

35:06 – Could Other Pet Products Claim Upcycling?

39:33 – Wrap Up and Stay Tuned!

Jordan Tyler: Every year, 1.3 billion tons of food are wasted. That's how much 100,000 African bush elephants, one of the largest species of elephant, would weigh, and it's enough to feed nearly half of the world's population. But what if your pet could be part of the solution?

Dr. Stephanie Clark: Today, we're digging into one of the most promising and perhaps most misunderstood pathways to sustainability and pet nutrition: upcycled ingredients.

Jordan Tyler: While the concept of using surplus or byproduct materials isn't new to pet food, the growing upcycled food movement is shifting the narrative. So, what makes this modern approach different? We'll explore how upcycling is evolving beyond past practices to create nutritional, functional, and environmentally responsible ingredients.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: From reducing food waste to potentially improving pet health, upcycled ingredients might just be one of the most exciting innovations, reshaping how we think about sustainability in the pet food space.

Welcome to Barking Mad, a podcast by BSM Partners. We're your hosts, Dr. Stephanie Clark—

Jordan Tyler: —and I'm Jordan Tyler. So, when we talk about upcycling, we could be talking about surplus produce from grocery stores, we could be talking about excess from the restaurant industry, or just perfectly valuable byproducts from the food manufacturing stream that could be repurposed into pet food or treats.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: And why we talk about this as food waste, it's not that it's waste, it's that it would become waste if we didn't do anything with it. A better way to think about it is rescuing perfectly nutritious food ingredients from waste streams and capturing their value in a product.

Jordan Tyler: And we will dive deeper into those nuances later in the episode. But to help set the stage, let's hear from Amanda Oenbring, Chief Executive Officer of the Upcycled Food Association and Executive Director of the Upcycled Food Foundation.

Amanda's career has been all about uniting her passion for sustainability and food systems with business as a force for good. She holds an MBA focused on sustainable food systems and has previously worked with 1% for the Planet and Earthshare, helping connect businesses with global environmental efforts.

So, Amanda. What does it mean when an ingredient is upcycled?

Amanda Oenbring: I really look at it as modern framing of ancient practices. These are not new ways of being. These are generations before us and even, you know, cultures today still prioritize making sure that the food we produce ends up at its highest and best use rather than going to waste.

So, when we started as an organization five years ago, really our first commitment as a collective was, let's create a definition that we can all align around. So, you know, we really define upcycled food as using ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains and have a positive impact on the environment.

I think of growing up in the kitchen with my grandma who lived through the Great Depression when they didn't have the luxury, right, of not using every bit, and we have that knowledge still alive today. So how can we be applying that within our businesses, in businesses we're creating, and in all sorts of ways is really exciting opportunity.

Jordan Tyler: So, in order for a finished product to be considered upcycled, at least 10% of the product must be made from upcycled ingredients. And I mean, 10% is not a whole lot. So I don't know. Maybe setting a low bar here to encourage more early adopters to jump into the upcycled scene. Maybe we'll see that number increase.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: It could be because upcycled ingredients are very expensive, so it's going to be less of a sticker shock.

Jordan Tyler: Totally. And we'll, we'll get into that a little bit later too, because the cost and just availability are two of kind of the biggest barriers right now. But I want to go to some numbers about the issue of food loss and waste because it has really far reaching impacts on the environment and on global economies.

So, according to the World Resources Institute, there are about 1.3 billion tons of food wasted every single year. And we said earlier that's about 100,000 African bush elephants, but it's also how much 3,500 Empire State Buildings would weigh. So just to kind of put that into perspective, the Empire State Building… it is really big. I mean, elephants are really big too, but have you guys ever seen that thing? It's huge. 3,500 of those.

To kind of frame that in a different way, with all of that food waste, we could feed 3 billion people or nearly 40% of the world's population for a day. Now, the direct economic cost of food waste is huge. It's estimated at 1 trillion US dollars per year according to the food and agricultural organization of the United Nations. And when we talk about the economy, we're talking really about all of us. You know, we're talking about wasted tax dollars, we're talking about impacts that we feel at the grocery store, impacts that businesses that we buy from are having to absorb.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: And if spending your hard earned money and those tax dollars on waste doesn't make you want to get sick, the estimated environmental cost of food waste is around $700 billion US dollars. And the social costs could be as high as $900 billion US dollars. To put that in an emissions perspective, the US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that food waste accounts for 170 million metric tons of CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions produced by 42 coal-fired power plants.

And just to get an idea on that, my toddler, who is probably too well versed in Disney movies, every time we pass by, she thinks that the bad guys are, the villains live there because if you think about it, and when you pass by a power plant. They always have these bellowing smoke clouds that are like, they're not really white and fluffy. They're kind of gray and dingy and dirty, and the whole area is just kind of smoggy, foggy, and so, well, she's not wrong. It does look like where the bad guys should live in a Disney movie. But that's terrifying for our breathing air and the people that are living around them.

Jordan Tyler: She's onto something there. I mean, it's nefarious. I mean that's a great example and you know, all those numbers kind of put together. You can see we have a pretty massive problem on our hands. But in speaking with Amanda of the Upcycled Food Association, there is a growing interest in foods, which could be a really great solution for this massive food waste problem.

Amanda Oenbring: So, specifically looking at US measures of sales, it's been a really exciting few years of growth specific to upcycled certified. So, you know, looking at measures of specifically certified products compared to, you know, non-GMO. Total Certified Upcycled was up year over year 12.5% across all categories, and really the top three leading categories—certified upcycled snacks is up 41% year-over-year, and then closely followed by beverages, and then, unveil surprise, pet is the third fastest growing category in that.

I don't have more specific numbers on that. I'm hoping to get some of that in the year end, but yeah. Snacks, beverages, and pet definitely is where a lot of excitement and growth is happening. There's just so much possibility in terms of what kinds of, you know, upcycling is possible and applicable to the pet market.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: So how can we capitalize on this wealth of possibility? There are many upcycled ingredients that are safe for use in pet food and treat products, and several brands already are doing so. Some of these ingredients include sweet potatoes, apples, carrots, pumpkin, even eggshells, beets, blueberries, sunflower meal, salmon skins, and a host of others. And these ingredients aren't only adding value to the food waste problem. They can also add value to your pet's health and wellness. As many of these ingredients can deliver important nutrients like vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants.

Jordan Tyler: An upcycling even extends to the bakery segment, as evidenced by Rotella's Italian Bakery, a family-owned, Nebraska-based bread producer. As John Rotella, fourth generation baker and General Manager at Rotella's, tells the story, their venture into the upcycled pet product space was a natural next step for their bakery business.

John Rotella: So I was talking to my dad after we finished our, one of our major plant expansions. I said, “Hey, I've got some time. I like to like spend a little bit of time on looking at, you know, upcycling some of our bakery byproduct and turn it to something better.” And at that time, we were doing a lot of milling and grinding and pellet pelleting and bringing down the moisture. Just experimenting of what we could do with all of our bakery byproduct. And you know, we knew in our back of our minds we wanted to get into companion animal and other things.

Now, the name Ag Alchemy came from where we kind of started in the agriculture world and the Ag Alchemy was like, okay, we could take something and make it even better. So like, well, why don't we just call it Ag Alchemy? And then it kind of slowly developed into Ag Alchemy Animal Nutrition. You know, five years later we're here today with a wide range of products as a contract manufacturer, and then we also have our own brand that that goes to market, specifically that’s using our upcycled product.

Jordan Tyler: Rotella's takes imperfect loaves from its production and turns them into value added ingredients for pet treats through Ag Alchemy.

John Rotella: When you have a manufacturing facility, and if you look at a product, put all your, you know, heart and soul into making a, you know, a fantastic loaf of bread. And for some reason if it is too big, too small, too light, too dark, the wrong score, or if the score doesn't look right, you know, and just see that not make the shelf, you're like, oh, it's just, you know, it's like, oh, but the, that product is so good!

And you know, we'd have bins on the side of our lines, and my grandfather and my dad said, “If you're going to go to the break room and you're going to go make yourself a sandwich, just grab one out of the bin.” I go, it's fantastic product. It just didn't meet spec. So, for me, in the back of my mind, if we could upcycle it and make it, you know, something, you know, fantastic. You know, for our companion animal, you know, pets, then it is a big win-win.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: But pet nutrition isn't the only end market for Rotella's leftover loafs.

John Rotella: Now, over the years and that we still do today, we give a lot of our product that doesn't meet spec to farmers all over the Midwest. Like we have a day-old store, for example, and lot time we'll sell in our day-old store and at a discounted rate. So, between the day-old store, between the farms, between Ag Alchemy, upcycling with all our stuff, we really do a good job on being sustainable with all of our products. So nothing goes to waste.

Jordan Tyler: We also sat down with Heidi Gillman, Director of Business Development at Ag Alchemy, to learn more about the specific upcycle bakery ingredients it leverages for its pet nutrition division.

Heidi Gillman: The first ingredient would be the breadcrumb, and we do take only the white bread from the bakery. We grind that down into a crumb, and for our own branded products that is the number one ingredient in our treats. So we do several different kinds of treats. We've got crunchy treats, we've got soft baked treats, we've got softened chewy treats. We really do all.

We also do everything from as little as like rabbit, guinea pig, ferret, all the way up to equine. So, we really are running the whole gamut of, you know, companion animals, whether they be small or large. Our sweet spot is definitely dog, that's what we do most. But that's the number one ingredient would be the, AAFCO’s definition is dried bakery product. We also do use wheat flour from time to time from the bakery that is also upcycled. But those are really kind of our top two ingredients in our treats.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: I love their story. I really do.

Jordan Tyler: Yeah, I do too. I think it's so cool how they've been giving back to the community all along and now they have Ag Alchemy, which is an extension of that that really allows them to bring the consumer along into the story of upcycling, which is such an important piece of getting people involved in this movement, and something that I know we are going to talk about with Kaitlin here next.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: Moving from the bakery aisle into the produce aisle, let's hear from Kaitlin Mogentale, Founder of Trashy. Kaitlin’s journey began with a degree in environmental science. And a growing interest in the intersection of climate, human health, and food. Her shift to a vegan lifestyle in college sparked a deeper curiosity about what we eat, what we buy, and how those choices impact the planet.

Kaitlin Mogentale: It kicked off a journey that started with my personal diet that kind of expanded into this much broader, um, interest. And through my studies, I had started a program in social entrepreneurship and I happened to be at a friend's house watching her juice a carrot when I saw all the waste that was produced.

And so, you know, one of the final projects that I had to come up with was a business idea around, you know, an issue, social, environmental. And I kind of brought this to my class. I said, “Hey, you know, food waste is actually a massive problem.” I did some research and I see one avenue where really fresh, high quality produce is going to waste in the juicing industry, which had just hit this kind of boom in Los Angeles. Just doing the deep dive with this class project on how could we turn these wasted ingredients into value added products for human nutrition. Got some grant funding from my university to get a CPG brand started and yeah, began the kind of journey under Pulp Pantry.

We went through the Target incubator, started selling a line of veggie chips, made from upcycled vegetables coming from value-added processing, so it was cold pressed juice, it was a manufacturer of baby carrots who had all the scrap from making the baby carrots. That was really the start of things.

Jordan Tyler: Okay. This is a true story and I'm sad to say that it's a true story, but Kaitlin is talking about baby carrots here, right? And just as an anecdote to how much food waste we probably don't even have, you know, have ever thought about, I probably didn't know until like the ripe age of like 21—I guess I just hadn't thought about it—that baby carrots, they're just regular carrots that have been shaved down into baby form.

Like they don't grow in their ground like that. They are just carrots. And so think about that baby carrot. That thing came from a whole carrot. Think about all like the off cuts and like the shavings that come from that production. So just, you know, next time you're in the grocery store, in the produce aisle, just like look around, think about where things came from, because I guarantee you, not everything came directly out of the earth or from a tree. And probably some of the, you know, things we all know and love, like baby carrots, could be culprits of this food waste problem.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: It is not funny, but it's funny. I literally just learned that last year. I mean, it's not something that everyone like, “Hmm, I wonder where baby carrots come from. Where do baby carrots come from, mommy?” Because my daughter loves baby carrots, and my husband was like, “You know, those actually are just big carrots, shaved down to small carrots,” and I was like, “No, they're not.” Again, I don't know where I thought baby carrots came from, but two and two definitely didn't add up in my house.

Jordan Tyler: That makes me feel a lot better to be totally honest, so thank you. Solidarity.

Kaitlin Mogentale: It's crazy when you kind of turn over all these, you know, rocks and look under the hood of all these businesses across our food supply chain, like where waste is occurring and just the way that there are so many barriers in the place of kind of putting the, these resources into their best, highest uses, and again, how much collaboration it requires across the food supply chain to kind of activate these opportunities to upcycle ingredients into new, great marketable products.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: Kaitlin is focused on the produce industry, which she says is responsible for a significant portion of global food waste. Isn't that sad?

Jordan Tyler: It is.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: But there are other food industry segments she's targeting for upcycled innovation.

Kaitlin Mogentale: I mean, just perishability is such a, a big factor. So I know in the pet food industry, like we get a lot of requests for, yeah, sweet potato, apples, carrots, um, pumpkin, all of those items are definitely things that we can source upcycled. And fruits and vegetables is like kind of our sweet spot.

Beyond that, right now I'm working on a chicken fat byproduct project, standardizing how we like package and kind of treat that material so it could be sold into value-added markets, both human and pet nutrition. So that was a new one for me, but it's something that I realized, I'm like, you know, there's, there's a market for these things and it's just again, kind of creating the consistency of that output.

You know, obviously brewer spent grain is like a big, talked-about upcycled byproduct. I mean, if you look at like nut milks or those kinds of facilities, there's a lot of waste that comes out of their bakery, like huge amounts of waste from bakery that could be transformed into pet ingredients too.

Jordan Tyler: I thought the nut milks thing is really interesting. I never thought about that. Like I know it takes a lot of water to produce, like, almonds and such. And then like once you turn them into milk, you get all sorts of other byproducts that you can't use.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: Mm-hmm.

Jordan Tyler: That go to waste. But man, do people love nut milk?

Dr. Stephanie Clark: Guilty.

Jordan Tyler: Guilty as charged. In other words, wherever there's food loss, there is an opportunity to upcycle. Ag Alchemy and Trashy are two great examples of how consumer brands are capitalizing on the upcycled movement. But of course, there are many others in the pet nutrition space, and Amanda Oenbring was eager to share more about them.

Amanda Oenbring: Shameless Pets as one example, 20% or more of their ingredients are upcycled across their entire product range. And that's everything from eggshell powder coming from liquid egg production to minced lobster and shell from that production process, across the fruit spectrum: apple pumice, blueberries from juicing cranberries from juicing, pumpkin from pumpkin processing, and then even cheese powder, right? Ends and irregulars that are coming out of that production process. And then brussels sprouts, leaves, off-size pieces, like all that is good, delicious nutrition that is being rescued and put into their product mix.

And then other examples of like Phelps using, you know, potato flour and flaxseed. So a wide range of opportunities for even just simple shifts and formulations can have a really big impact.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: As with all sustainable initiatives, upcycled doesn't come without unique challenges for consumer acceptance and scalability.

Amanda Oenbring: That's always with every birth of a movement, you know, figuring out where those growing pains are and how we can help use those over time. So I think, you know, the good news is that 95% of people agree food waste is a problem and they want to do something about it. So really, you know, rooting in that core. This is an issue everyone can get behind, right? So, the more and more it's available and accessible and known that, I think it's really going to take us a long way.

Jordan Tyler: According to Kaitlin, one of the biggest consumer concerns she's heard around upcycled ingredients is—are they safe?

Kaitlin Mogentale: How will this material actually be handled in a way that is—you know, we were previously treating it like waste—so how do we implement some operational changes that allow us to verify that this ingredient will be food safe for consumption? And so those are scary questions sometimes for people and changing the, the process or the packaging or how that material's handled.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: Another key challenge is the way upcycled ingredients are framed in the eyes of the consumer.

Kaitlin Mogentale: The challenge for us really became not getting the yeses to get on shelf in this upcycled space, but getting the consumer to say yes. We leaned so heavily on this upcycled messaging, and at the end of the day, the word upcycled had kind of this negative connotation because of its correlation with recycled. But it was a really big challenge. I mean, we came in with the name Pulp front-and-center, like this ingredient was our hero. We were building a brand around sourcing these produce byproducts. Right? And what I really realized through the journey was that became extremely off-putting for consumers.

We got around almost a hundred comments that were directly saying, upcycled sounds like recycling, it sounds unappetizing, pulp sounds disgusting. We still plowed ahead and we're like, “Well, this is what differentiates us. That's how we're going to find our niche consumers and our audience.” But ultimately, you know, I think when we talk about the promise of upcycled foods, it has to come back to what's in it for the consumer, and that's really where Pulp Pantry failed as a brand.

Jordan Tyler: Now, to address the question of scale, Kaitlin has actually launched another brand, Scrapi, that focuses on connecting sources of food loss and waste with companies eager to find new ways to incorporate them into their supply chains.

Kaitlin Mogentale: We've really created Scrapi, as I would say, a change agent because we realized as trashy, you know, we had so much inbound interest in, Hey, I have this resource, could you turn it into something for your chips? And as an example, one recently was citrus pulp and peel, and we're like, “That might not make a great veggie chip, but you know, let's try to figure out what the other markets that we can tap into,” and what does that sales process look like? How do we package these ingredients in a way that is marketable?

And also, what is the actual infrastructure we need to build? Because I think that's a big challenge in this kind of emerging upcycled food category is actually the lack of infrastructure that we have to deal with byproducts right now. You know, the easiest thing to do is put it in a roll-off bin and have some guy pick it up to send to animal feed, and that's kind of the status quo in the industry, right? Or pay for a trash service that kind of goes and takes it to compost. But these are valuable resources that still have value to add to human or pet nutrition and have higher margin potentials for those businesses that it's currently a cost center to dispose of.

So, it's a lot of kind of putting those pieces in play so that we can enable, again, more, more companies to access these ingredients, or at least build their own kind of supply chain so that they have these direct sourcing relationships that make sense for them locally.

So, while there's a clear interest in upcycled pet nutrition, it's important to remember that sustainability, while important, is not the top reason people buy a product. It's more like a bonus, not necessarily the main purchase driver.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: There's a perception that upcycled ingredients should cost less because of how they're sourced, but the reality is they're usually more expensive. In fact, it's cheaper to just let them go to waste than have them repurposed. But because consumers aren't as willing to pay high premiums for sustainable products in general, including upcycled products, brands must figure out a way to absorb those costs to drive broader consumer buy-in.

Jordan Tyler: Yeah, well said. I think that's one of the really interesting nuances about upcycled is, yeah, you look at it and you say, “Okay, well, shouldn't this be on par with the price that I pay for normal food or, you know, even cheaper since we're kind of repurposing these ingredients?” So really making it make sense in the eyes of the consumer is going to be really, really important for adoption.

And there's one other thing that I just, I can't help myself. I'm going to get up on my soapbox for just a second. But I feel like it would be a disservice to this conversation if we ignored what I like to refer to as the OG upcycler for pet nutrition, and that is rendered ingredients.

Rendered ingredients or byproducts are parts of an animal that humans typically reject at the dinner table. You know, things like organ meats and bone meal. And while these ingredients may seem unappealing by today's culinary standards, at least in the Western world, they are highly nutritious and safe for our pets.

And without a market like pet food to put these ingredients to good use, they'd end up in landfills and polluting waterways. In fact, according to the Fats and Proteins Research Foundation, the North American rendering industry recycles roughly 56 billion pounds of raw material every year. And all of that comes from animal production and the United States and Canada.

So, these rendered byproducts deserve recognition as one of the original upcycled ingredients in our pet food system. They've been reducing waste long before upcycling became a buzzword, and by ignoring the positive environmental impact of this ingredient stream, I fear we're short-changing the positive impact that pet food has already contributed for decades.

Now, that's not to say that we can't still benefit from upcycled ingredients in a more modern term—things like produce, grains, et cetera. It really just comes back to the central idea of, if we can capture value from ingredients that would’ve otherwise been wasted in our current food system, why not?

Dr. Stephanie Clark: Back to the more recent form of upcycling, as Kaitlin has traversed this space through Pulp Pantry and now Trashy and Scrapi, she’s learned some valuable lessons around how to position these products more effectively in the broader market.

Kaitlin Mogentale: Maybe where, you know, other pet food entrepreneurs and pet brands can learn from our mistakes is how do you give the consumer a feeling that they're really a part of the story. It's not the ingredient that's the hero, but it's them. And so, I think the reframing for me was really around, okay, the sustainability messaging needs to be framed in a positive way.

So, talking about conserving water and resources is great, like each bag saves this many pounds of veggies or this much gallons of water. That kind of allows consumers to feel like they're part of that change. And they're part of like, buying this product actually helped to realize some of these, like these sustainability benefits that are important to me. So bringing them along that journey as much as you can versus just glorifying that specific ingredient.

Jordan Tyler: Connecting the consumer more closely to the positive impact of the product can also be done by reframing the topic in terms of health benefits to a person or pet.

Kaitlin Mogentale: Maybe instead of talking about the pulp, we could have talked about more, like leaned into, this is the fiber from juicing. Like this is a really healthy ingredient that is boosting your gut health. It's, you know, it's doing these things that are actually beneficial when you eat the product.

And so again, translating that to the pet, the pet food category, same thing. It's like, how is this hero ingredient, this upcycled ingredient that we really want to champion, how can we relate that back to what's in it for the consumer of the product, so the pet that's actually going to eat that product?

And it's just interesting because yeah, stalks, stems, the offcuts of veggies, I mean all of that still has so much nutrition and so much value. But like you said, I think it's really the visualization piece that we have to get around because what we're talking about is not that this ingredient is lacking in value or nutrition, it's really just the stigma associated with visually, like how do I interpret what that ingredient looks like.

Jordan Tyler: From an operational perspective, Kaitlin says the first step to a more robust supply chain for upcycled ingredients is getting product manufacturers on board, whether it's a juicing processing business, a bakery, a baby carrot factory, or another food manufacturer, they all have byproducts that would otherwise go to waste.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: The onus is on passionate advocates across the industry to turn that excess into something delicious and nutritious.

Kaitlin Mogentale: It's like going to the facility, asking to talk to the team, see the production process, and finding someone on the line who's literally managing that ingredient and saying, “Is this a problem for you?” Like, I mean, you’d be amazed how many people who've been watching that waste firsthand would be so excited, so stoked to be part of a program that is like really championing valuable materials that we know could go to better use.

So that would be my biggest tip is like really finding that champion that you can work with to get things done, because it does require change. It requires, you know, implementing new, like I said, new ways of collecting that material. You'd be surprised how many people don't actually track the metrics of like the waste that they produce and have a very loose sense of what materials are going to waste.

Like what does that look like? Because when you actually kind of have them do some of the work, they're like, “Oh my gosh, I didn't realize how massive a problem this is.” Starting with that, those conversations with waste generators to understand their pain points can, again, create a really successful program for finding new opportunities and ways that that company will be motivated to work with you, to like, find new ways to upcycle.

Jordan Tyler: As the upcycling movement gains traction, Amanda noted several other emerging trends in upcycling that are poised to improve the way we source and produce coveted food and beverage products, like coffee and chocolate.

Amanda Oenbring: I think one really interesting emerging trend, more to the broader food space within upcycling, but is creating those future products for our most constrained supply chains.

So, you think about right now, cocoa and you think about coffee, right? Those are experiencing wild, dramatic, you know, constraints in terms of the climate impact on the growing of those crops to how that impacts their financial availability to all our amazing, you know, companies that are bringing that into our homes.

So, you know, some examples that I think is so fascinating, creating the cocoa-free chocolate, right? We've got a member, Voyage Foods, who, you know, I'm an Nutella fan, unashamedly, and I did the blind tasting, and I don't know that I would've known any difference. So, you know, how can you be finding that chocolate alternative that is just as delightful and is decreasing the sugar, I think, in a lot of great ways.

And then also the bean free coffee. Thinking about, okay, what is the opportunity to have that be a direct beverage alternative or a blended beverage over time? So, you know, really helping us create those future products that I think are going to be only necessary.

And then kind of going back into that food service conversation, we've got an amazing member, Spare Food Company, who they have a, what they call a Spare Starter, a veggie blend that can be essentially substituted for a percentage of meat in any kind of meat menu items. You think of instead of your veggie burger, it's a 70% meat and 30% Spare Starter or you know, your meatballs or your lasagna. So really giving a pathway for folks that might not be opting for that entirely veggie menu item, giving them the chance to have that experience and giving the food service providers the ability to bring that amazing benefits across environmental and that rescued food within their service.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: I think it's really interesting to see if we can get upcycled certification for cat litter. You know, we've had a lot of conversations and at Global Pet, there was a lot of sustainable litters out there, and they're using upcycled ingredients, but are they claiming upcycled or are they upcycled certified?

We know that 10% needs to be upcycled to be considered an upcycled product. I don't know, anyone out there if you can help me out with that. Is this what is happening to cat litter? Can they claim upcycling?

Jordan Tyler: Oh, that's a really interesting question I hadn't asked when we were talking to these folks. And, and by the way, we are doing an episode on sustainable cat litter here coming up very soon. It's going to be a really fun episode, so stay tuned for that.

But it has been really interesting to learn about the overlap between sustainable cat litter materials and the upcycling movement, because a lot of these more sustainable brands are using things like walnut shells from the walnut production industry, and wood shavings from the lumber industry, tofu byproducts from tofu processing.

So just a ton of opportunity, as you probably have figured out by now through this episode in the food manufacturing industry, to divert some of that quote unquote waste into new products that could really add nutrition and add value back into those products. So, yeah. I like where your head's at.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: Upcycling isn't just a sustainability buzzword, it's a practical opportunity that empowers consumers to take action against food waste in their everyday lives. The more we normalize these purchasing decisions, the more we'll be able to fine tune our supply chains against waste and towards greater value for people, pets, and the planet.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: And by 2034, the market for upcycled food industry could reach $119.8 billion—that's with a B—US dollars. This is growing around 7.6% annually. Phew!

Kaitlin Mogentale: I remember a really great report, IRI data that was kind of interpreted by the Stern NYU Business School, that showed that, you know, although sustainably marketed consumer or CPG products are only 16% of the market share, they're driving over 50% of the market growth. So there's really, I think, strong indicators that this is going to be the trend that continues to stay.

Jordan Tyler: While challenges remain passionate advocates like Amanda, the Rotella family, Kaitlin, and others are a driving force behind a more widespread adoption of upcycling. A key part of this transition is simply educating people about the sheer size of the global food waste problem and bringing them along as part of the solution.

Amanda Oenbring: Nature isn't uniform. Nature is, you know, full of variability. Yet, we come to expect these pretty grocery store shelves with everything that looks identical. All that food is out there, all that food is wonderful and delicious and nutritious. And then even to where we consume our food and the amount of food that comes from, you know, our cafeterias and our restaurants and our food service upcycling is such a positive, simple action that the everyday consumer can feel great about making that purchasing decision, right?

We all know and we face that reality of food waste in our own homes. Being able to purchase that product that you know is helping stop food waste for yourself and across all your purchasing decisions, right? For your pets, for your home, for your cosmetics, and personal care. There's just so many different ways that I think, over time, upcycling will be not the nice to have, but the need to have in the ways that we are just making those decisions.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: As we reflect on today's conversation, it's clear that upcycling offers real potential for reducing food waste, unlocking nutrition, and making smarter use of the resources we already have at our disposal. In a world where perfectly good food is too often discarded, it's a refreshing reminder that small shifts, like what we put into our pet's bowls, can lead to meaningful changes.

Jordan Tyler: As we heard from Amanda, John, Heidi, and Caitlin. The upcycled food movement is gaining traction across industries, but it's not without its challenges, whether overcoming misconceptions, building better infrastructure, or translating, quote unquote waste into something consumers actually want to buy. Success in this space comes down to two things: collaboration and communication.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: If you're a pet food brand ready to turn byproducts into business value, this is your moment from sourcing and r and d to formulation and regulatory strategy. BSM Partners is here to help you bring your upcycled ingredient strategy to life and to market.

Jordan Tyler: If you're a pet parent, know that even small purchasing choices like treats can make a big difference. Look for that Upcycled Certified label and ask your favorite brands what they're doing to be part of this sustainable solution. After all, it's up to all of us to drive a food system that's better for animals, people, and the planet.

Dr. Stephanie Clark: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Barking Mad. If you want to learn more about BSM Partners, please visit us at www.bsmpartners.net. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite leading podcast platform and share it with a friend to stay current on the latest pet industry trends and conversation. And don't forget to go zoomies on that like button!

Jordan Tyler: A huge thank you to Amanda, John, and Heidi and Kaitlin for sharing their insights with us today. We'd also like to thank the dedicated team behind Barking Mad: Ada-Miette Thomas, Neeley Bowden, Kait Wright, Cady Wolf, and Dr. Katy Miller. A special shout out to Lee Ann Hagerty and Michael Johnson in support of this episode. See you next time!