In an effort to minimize food waste and find uses for all edible parts of the chicken, Scandi Standard has initiated a floor waste reduction program and started an ingredients business.
The Sweden-based company -- with operations also in Norway, Finland, Denmark and Ireland – explained its efforts in Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) in its newly-released 2020 annual report.
Floor waste reduction program
Scandi Standard in January 2020 put in place a waste reduction project to systematically reduce floor waste. Once edible parts of the chicken hit the floor at the plant, they are no longer suitable for human consumption, the company explained in its report.
The program is set up to identify and correct both minor and major deficiencies in the production chain, to ensure waste is minimized.
“It may sound obvious, but this requires a focused working approach. It sometimes involves a very basic mechanical solution, for example, setting up guide rails on conveyor belts, but sometimes you need to replace an entire process and work differently to be able to address the problem. In this project we have analyzed large amounts of data in the areas that are causing the problems and then initiated the process of correcting them,” the company said in its annual report.
Since the program began, Scandi Standard reduced its floor waste by 38% when compared to 2019 levels. The company’s next goal is to reduce floor waste by 50%, also when compared to 2019.
Ingredients business
In the report, Scandi Standard CEO Leif Bergvall Hansen explained the establishment of an ingredients business.
“As part of our ESG commitment, we are dedicated to using the entire bird for commercial purposes,” said Hansen. “There is a lot of nutritional value left after filets, wings and feet are removed from the carcass. We have developed an ingredients business that converts these items into feed for pets and other animals.”
The report also pointed out that these parts of the bird can be used for biofuel.
In finding uses for all parts, the company is not only being more environmentally sustainable, but also enabling the company to get “the best possible payment” for its products.
