INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Swine nutrition has improved dramatically over the last 50 years, resulting in hogs that are 75 percent leaner today. Another feed option may be coming to the table for Indiana swine: Treated food scraps from commercial kitchens.
An update to the Indiana Code was passed in May to allow commercial food scraps to be treated and processed into pellet-sized swine feed. The Indiana State Board of Animal Health (BOAH) will now govern the process. BOAH discussed and unanimously passed its first reading this month, and is now open for public comment.
"At one time we allowed garbage feeding. It’s been more than 10 years ago. We are bringing it back because of interest in recycling. People don’t want to fill landfills with plate waste ... We also had requests from companies that saw it as a potential business opportunity," said Denise Derrer, public information director for BOAH.
The food waste would be subject to a required treatment protocol to prevent disease pathogens from being transmitted to the swine, Derrer said. Also, processors would need to be licensed and inspected.
The public comment period will end Jan. 7, 2016, when BOAH will convene a public hearing and final vote. The rule would bring state regulations into line with USDA guidelines for food waste used as feed.
"It’s an economic opportunity if someone wants that; it’s environmentally friendly. There are no risks, none that we foresee or we wouldn’t have voted for it," Derrer explained.
She said farmers’ interest in food scraps as a feed option would depend on the type of hog operation. "Grain prices may have a big impact. Like dried distillers waste, the math may be important (in that decision)."
Meggie Foster, a proponent of swine nutrition, said she did not see recycled food scraps as a step backwards. Foster, co-owner with husband, Dallas, of Foster Family Farms in Greenfield, said recycled food scraps would not work for their farm, but it may be a good solution for others.
"This is an opportunity for new farm businesses or smaller producers looking for alternative feeding solutions," she said.
She explained the logistics of feeding pellets would be incompatible with their system. They have a 600-sow farrow-to-finish operation with 12,000 market pigs per year. Their contracts could also be compromised by an inconsistent feed product.
"We would lose consistency in the product. Our ties to processors who contract with us expect a certain quality and consistency. We can’t risk losing those contracts and the ability to use the hogs," Foster said.
State Rep. Matt Ubelhor (R-Bloomfield), who sponsored H.B. 1170 this spring, said he was approached by two different constituents who believed the state code needed to be updated: a retired schoolteacher, who wanted to see a better use for large volumes of food waste, and an engineering company in Loogootee that wanted to explore ways to process food scraps.
"The state and federal law didn’t come together. We’re getting that fixed and taking out the roadblocks for processors. It just makes good sense to take waste and scoop it out of the landfill," Ubelhor told Farm World earlier this year.
Derrer didn’t know if a company is actively pursuing the idea, but the rule is progressing nonetheless. "It will be ready on the books if another group is interested. The foundation is already laid," she said.
Ubelhor searched for examples of kitchen scraps being used for swine feed nationally and found Rutgers University was donating 1.2 tons per day to feed 3,000 hogs. He also found another facility in Minnesota feeding 3,800 hogs.
While 83 percent of aluminum is recycled nationally, only 3 percent of food waste is recycled, he explained. Potential sources of food scraps are schools, universities, prisons, casinos and any other producer of large volumes of food waste.
Comments on the proposed rule should be mailed to: BOAH, Discovery Hall, Suite 100, 1202 E. 38th St., Indianapolis, IN 46205, or send by email to sasimpson@boah.in.gov
