From Co-Product Handling to Zero Waste

“Our customers process valuable animal resources thereby addressing the increasing need for animal proteins for a fast-growing world population in the future. At BAADER, we are intensively searching for solutions to maximize the utilization of these resources,” says Wouter Veerkamp, Global Head of Product Management, BAADER Poultry.

Though we at BAADER strongly believe that traditional animal proteins from fish, poultry and meat - for which we provide leading automated processing solutions - will continue to play a pivotal role in feeding the world sustainably, with a rising global population reaching almost 10 billion people in 2050, those traditional protein sources will not be sufficient. In addition, their consumption will differ in different parts of the world. While there is a clear trend towards eating less meat in the developed world, consumers in emerging countries will continue to increase their consumption as their living standards increase.

The United Nations (UN) calls for the restructuring of the global food system in its World Food Report 2019. According to the UN, new concepts for the way we think and produce food and proteins are urgently needed.

Researchers, scientists and start-ups are looking for alternatives to animal proteins - fish, poultry and meat.

ReAct, ReThink, ReDefine – The Future of Food

With our mission - ‘We Innovate Food Value Chains’ - we have committed ourselves to working alongside these forward thinkers on these new, alternative concepts. Together with researcher, scientists and partners from industry and the public, we are discussing the challenges, opportunities and tasks that lie ahead - on the way to a sustainable future of nutrition and protein supply. As a vivid expression of our mission, we introduced a new event and conference format in 2019: the BAADER Innovation Day – BAADER ID.

Driving Innovation along the Food Value Chain

Many methods of alternative protein extraction such as 3D food printing, plant-based proteins, algae, insects and others are in their infancy. And it will still take a lot of energy before some of them are encountered, not only in the laboratory but also in life.

With a view to a sustainable future of nutrition in relation to rapidly growing populations, our primary objectives must therefore be to conserve natural resources, to combine animal and alternative protein sources and to exceed the highest international standards in terms of food safety, quality, traceability and animal welfare.

In line with our mission, we at BAADER see it as our responsibility to make our contribution as a pioneering innovation driver along the entire food value chain.

At BAADER, we are intensively searching for solutions to maximize the utilization of these resources.” Wouter Veerkamp, Global Head of Product Management, BAADER Poultry.

Product Enhancements and Co-Product Value-Adding

Product enhancements offer our customers huge profit potential with efficient use of resources. Smart reprocessing of valuable nutrients in all side products is the key. We believe that every co-product within our food processing sphere can be enhanced.

“That is why we are coordinating with customers and experts in co-product enhancements. We aim at enabling our customers to sell these co-products separately and thus increase their profitability in normally wasted items, either by offering future solutions that allow co-products to remain part of the value chain or by providing the optimal processing by-products to relevant partners”, explains Veerkamp.

Examples of co-product enhancements include dietary supplements and fertilizers out of blood, organic soil fertilizer out of feathers, giblets for human consumption, slurry out of waste water, organic fuel out of back pieces and carcass, calcium, gelatine or collagen extraction out of bones and many more.

Unlike in fish, where co-product handling and resource waste cutting is still in their early stages, the poultry industry has already found mature ways to use as much of each bird as possible. Various companies have specialized in the field of rendering.

“It is highly unlikely that BAADER will enter the business of rendering in the near future”, says Dr Norbert Engberg, CEO BAADER Poultry. “But we are working on collaborating and networking with customers and experts of the co-product and waste treatment industry to ensure that our processing solutions are best tuned to their current and future needs. It’s about understanding what co-products are needed, in which form and engineer our machines and solutions accordingly”.

“It is only through collaboration and extension of our know-how beyond our own value creation that we can contribute to utilize protein resources most efficiently and provide our customers with the best possible overall business case” adds Veerkamp.