Do you know about the recycling and reuse of expired food?

Mondo Social Updated on 2024-01-19

Any food can spoil or be contaminated, but when we throw it away, what happens to the garbage dumps, and can some food be reused?

First of all, we roughly classify expired food as "short-term guarantee" and "long-term guarantee", because the food in the short-term warranty range will still grow because it has not completely killed the bacteria, so the bacteria will gradually multiply during the shelf life. However, the bacteria of the food within the long-term storage range will not multiply rapidly during the storage period, and their shelf life can be understood as "the taste before the expiration date" or "best used before this date", rather than the expiration date will definitely spoil.

Short-term "food: throw it away when it expires." The more common "short-lived" foods include pasteurized milk (fresh milk), fresh juice, fresh bread, cakes, frozen meat, yogurt (other than room temperature yogurt), and bioskill.

"Long-term food": Expired soon has little impact. The more common "long-lasting" foods include dried foods such as biscuits, jerky, and dried fruits, sealed canned beverages other than fresh beverages, canned food, UHT boxed milk (ultra-high temperature instantaneously sterilized milk), processed meat products such as room temperature yogurt, ham sausage, sauce foods, and frozen products (this is more special, because it is only guaranteed for a long time when it is frozen).

When the expired food is packed and thrown away at the garbage station, the staff will do a simple sorting and disposal of the garbage. Some garbage stations may crush or compress expired or spoiled food, and then incinerate or landfill it with other waste. During the incineration process, these foods are burned at high temperatures and converted into ash and gas.

Of course, although some expired foods can no longer be used for human consumption, they can still be used as feed raw materials, such as expired grains and dairy products. By reusing expired food to make feed, it can not only reduce food waste, but also reduce feed costs and give full play to the maximum value of expired food. Therefore, if it is sorted in advance, the use value of expired food will be maximized.

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