Evaluation of dehydrated restaurant food waste products as feedstuffs for finishing pigs

Two dehydrated restaurant food waste (DFW) products were evaluated as potential feedstuffs for finishing pigs. For each product, fresh food wastes were obtained from food service operations at a resort complex in central Florida. The wastes were mostly leftover food and plate scrapings. The wastes were minced, blended with a feed stock (soy hulls and wheat flour [DFW1] or soy hulls and ground corn [DFW2]), pelleted, and dried. The dried product was then blended with additional minced fresh food wastes and dried; this process was then repeated. The final DFW products contained approximately 60% dried food wastes. The DFW1 and DFW2 products contained 11.4 and 8.4% moisture, 15.0 and 14.4% CP, 13.8 and 16.0% crude fat, 10.4 and 14.5% crude fiber, 5.8 and 4.7% ash, .63 and .64% lysine, .54 and .63% Ca, .34 and .38% P, .69 and .86% Cl, and .35 and .47% Na, respectively. Two feeding trials with 48 and 72 finishing pigs (56 to 112 kg), respectively, were conducted comparing diets without (control) or with the DFW product included at 40% of the diet (DFW1) for Trial 1 and 40 or 80% of the diet (DFW2) for Trial 2. Pigs fed the DFW diets in both trials had ADG that were similar (P > . 10) to and average gain:feed ratios that were superior (P = .06, Trial 1; P < .01; linear, Trial 2) to those for control pigs. Carcass lean content and lean quality scores were not reduced (P > . 10) by feeding pigs the DFW diets in either trial. Carcass fat became softer (P < .01; linear) with increasing amount of DFW2 in the diet in Trial 2. Thus, dehydrated restaurant food wastes have the potential to produce a nutritious feedstuff for pigs while offering a viable solid waste disposal option.