Feeding pigs with food waste saves agricultural land: study

Feeding food waste, or swill, to pigs could save 1.8 million hectares of global agricultural land, according to a study published Thursday by the University of Cambridge.

Swill-feeding was banned across the EU in 2002 following the foot-and-mouth outbreak. But researchers say it is time to reassess whether the EU's blanket ban on the use of food waste as feed is the right thing for the pig industry.

This new study proposes that the EU lift the pig-swill ban and harness technologies developed in East Asian countries for "heat-treating" food waste to safely turn it into pig feed. In that case, land could be saved from being stripped for grain and soybean-based pig feed production.

The models in the latest study show that pig swill reintroduction would not only decrease the amount of land the EU pork industry requires by 21.5 percent, but also cut in half the ever-increasing feed costs faced by European pig farmers.

Researchers describe swill as a feed which is commonly used in other parts of the world, one that could save a huge amount of global resources, and provide an environmentally sound recycling solution to the estimated 102.5 million tons of food wasted in the EU each year.

"In many countries in East Asia we have a working model for the safe use of food waste as pig feed. It is a highly regulated and closely monitored system that recycles food waste and produces low-cost pig feed with a low environmental impact," said Erasmus zu Ermgassen from the University of Cambridge, who led the study.

Some 21.5 million tons of pork, around 34 kg of pork per person, are produced in the EU each year. Livestock production occupies approximately 75 percent of agricultural land worldwide, with most of this used to produce animal feed, according to the study.

"Swill actually provides a more traditional diet for pigs than the grain-based feed currently used in modern EU systems," said zu Ermgassen. Endit