Can bakery and confectionary products be used in pig feed?

Food waste is on the rise and now amounts to 1.3 billion tonnes of wasted food.

Aware of their responsibility for food waste, consumers are increasingly looking for new solutions to address this waste and the question they have been asking themselves is:

Do old food products have the potential to replace conventional feed ingredients?

An Italian study decided to investigate this question in 36 post-weaning female piglets. They divided these piglets into 3 groups with 3 different diets for 42 days. The first diet was a standard diet. In the second diet, they replaced 30% of the standard ingredients with old confectionery products (chocolate, biscuits and sweet snacks...). In the last diet, they replaced 30% of the standard ingredients with old bakery products (bread, salty snacks, pasta...).

The aim of this study was to determine whether leftovers from the food industry could be a good alternative to cereals for young pigs and to measure the growth performance, feed digestibility and metabolic status of piglets in post-weaning.

The results of the study were conclusive. Indeed, all three groups of animals remained healthy throughout the experiment and showed normal growth performances.

This study has shown that the inclusion of 30% of two different types of high fat and high carbohydrate ingredients in post-weaning piglet diets is possible. This advance will allow us to drastically reduce food waste and thus preserve our planet.


https://www.allaboutfeed.net/animal-feed/raw-materials/can-bakery-and-confectionary-products-be-used-in-pig-feed/