Sustainability and Ethics in the Food Industry

Food waste in the modern world must be addressed as both consumable and non-consumable food waste tends to rise every year. Waste minimization is also one of the greatest challenges to sustainable production and food security in the future. In this chapter, sustainable objectives of managing the food chain, ethical issues concerning the usage of waste-derived, value-added products, and technological solutions for controlling food wastage are discussed. Because of global protein malnutrition, plant- and animal-derived waste provides the opportunity for protein regeneration to develop protein hydrolysate for functional food and dietary supplements. However, the ethical challenge, together with public conscience regarding the transformation of waste into human food, needs the collective effort of all agencies, local bodies, and industrial groups to counter the stigmatization of “waste” in food products. Access awareness should be created, appropriate marketing measures should be employed, as well as picking the correct names of both the brands and the food themselves would reflect their background. This discussion underscores the need to work with the guidance of ethical principles to fight these vices as well as work toward a better and more sustainable way of valorizing waste in the world.