[ti:US Restaurants, Companies 'Upcycle' Leftover Food]
[al:Arts and Culture]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2023-06-29]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Tyler Malek is the head ice cream maker at the Portland, Oregon-based Salt & Straw.
[00:07.96]He uses leftover yogurt to make his lemon curd ice cream. 
[00:14.37]For chocolate barley milk, he mixes leftovers of rice and grains used to make beer to give it a creamy taste.
[00:24.89]"Instead of calling this food waste, we need to call it wasted food and start decreasing how much wasting we're doing," Malek said.
[00:36.40]Malek's ice cream company is among those at the start of a movement called upcycling. 
[00:44.35]It is a process of creating high-quality products from leftover food.
[00:51.51]The movement is gaining ground as buyers want to know what is in their food, where their food comes from, and how it affects the environment.
[01:02.53]The Upcycled Food Association said more than 31 million metric tons of food are wasted every year in the U.S. 
[01:15.00]The organization estimated that waste makes up about 40 percent of the country's food production, costing the national economy more than $200 billion.
[01:29.20]Upcycled food is becoming increasingly common in food products like cake mixes and veggie chips at natural food stores.
[01:39.82]Others include fruits and vegetables that are rejected by restaurants and food stores because of their shape or color.
[01:49.00]The Upcycled Food Association gives out an official "Upcycling Certified" seal to qualifying products. 
[01:58.89]These seals, found on the new Salt & Straw ice cream, bring attention to buyers that this company is upcycling food.
[02:09.32]The organization approved 30 food products in 2021 to carry the seal. 
[02:16.56]But now, 450 different products have received the marker.
[02:23.01]Angie Crone is the organization's chief executive. 
[02:29.15]She said outdated guidelines led to a lot of wasted and uneaten food.
[02:35.86]Crone added, "So this is a mark that you can see on the products wherever you go shopping, to be able to understand how that company is reducing food waste..."
[02:48.01]The organization's marker is also found on all products made by Renewal Mill. 
[02:55.19]The Oakland, California-based company is turning leftover food products from plant-based milk into food products like flour to reduce waste at the manufacturing level.
[03:09.45]Caroline Cotto, the company's founder said, "And then we use that flour to make things like baking mixes and ready-to-eat cookies."
[03:20.78]Its flour is also used in Salt & Straw's new "Salted Caramel & Okara Cupcakes" ice cream.
[03:28.27]The movement is not limited to recycled products found in ice cream stores, farmers' markets, or natural food stores. 
[03:37.74]In San Francisco, a restaurant is now serving pizza and wine with upcycled food such as ugly mushrooms and discolored tomatoes.
[03:49.68]I'm Gregory Stachel.