Del Monte Foods has announced what it says is the industry’s first canned vegetable product to be certified by the Upcycled Food Association under its new Upcycled certification program.
The company’s Blue Lake Petite Cut and Blue Lake Farmhouse Cut Green Beans are made with 100% upcycled and sustainably grown green beans from Wisconsin and Illinois. Both products have been on the market for years. Del Monte said it is looking into displaying the new certification on future cans.
Del Monte is among countless other companies in the CPG space looking to curtail product waste and find new ways to use foods that would otherwise be thrown out as the issue becomes more important to shoppers.
As consumers place a deeper value on sustainability, hunger, and the environment, few areas are as primed to benefit from the shift as upcycled foods.
The food waste business was worth about $46.7 billion in 2019 and is predicted to grow at a 5% compound annual growth rate during the next decade, according to a study by Future Marketing Insights. The USDA has estimated that between 30% and 40% of the food supply in the U.S. is wasted.
Del Monte chose green beans for Upcycled certification first because it’s one of the highest-volume products produced by the company—it typically handles over 420 million cans annually and the company wanted to make the biggest impact.
Upcycling advocates say using upcycled ingredients can help lower the more than 70 billion tons of greenhouse gases that are generated by food loss and waste, according to Forbes.
Even during the pandemic, sustainability and food waste remain issues that consumers care about.