Schaan/Illnau-Effretikon ZH – The Liechtenstein-based food company Hilcona wants to integrate food by-products more strongly into the consumption cycle. To this end, Hilcona has agreed a cooperation with the Swiss start-up EggField.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of tons of food go unused or as leftovers in the trash. According to a media release, food company Hilcona wants to work with startup EggField, based in the canton of Zurich, to produce a plant-based egg alternative whose raw materials are unused food byproducts from hummus production. This so-called food upcycling is intended to give food more value again.
The cooking water of the chickpeas produced during the production of hummus is used as the basis of the new product. According to the manufacturers, 24 metric tons of cooking water – which previously always had to be disposed of as waste – has already been used to produce 300,000 plant-based egg substitutes in the past year. This is to be doubled in the current year.
“We are convinced that we will not have a choice in the future and will have to make better use of our resources,” Ried Steiger, CFO and head of supply chain at EggField, is quoted as saying. eb
