News and Media

Food Waste to Pig Feed – Safe and Bio-secure


APRIL supported project (6A-105)

Researchers: Dr Valeria Torok, Dr Bryony Tucker and Dr Reza Barekatain (South Australian Research and Development Institute).

Due to the risk of introducing emergency animal diseases, the feeding of any feed waste product to pigs is usually prohibited in Australia. But what if the food could be processed to make it completely safe? This was the challenge set by the End Food Waste CRC-P, a cooperative research program aiming to tackle Australia’s rising landfill problem by finding sustainable ways to repurpose biological feed waste.

Research Aim: To identify food safety, biosecurity risks, and economic feasibility of converting mixed human food waste into safe pig feed.

A regional Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) was conducted across five Australian pig producing areas in Australia. The TEA assessed both wet and dry feeding systems to evaluate the practical and economic viability of converting food waste into a bio-secure ingredient compared with standard grain-based diet.

Alongside the TEA, a pilot study was undertaken with weaner pigs fed either a 100% standard commercial feed, or an 80% standard commercial feed plus 20% bio-secure waste. Food waste was macerated, heated to 100°C, dewatered, dried and milled (<3mm) before being incorporated into the diet.

Figure 1. Process of treating mixed food waste into a dry feed ingredient. The material was initially macerated/shredded and then heat treated, dewatered, dried and milled into a feed ingredient.

Snapshot of key findings:

  • The TEA identified approximately 373,000 tonnes per year of untapped food waste from commercial and industrial sources across five major pig producing regions in Australia. 

  • Wet feed production was found to be feasible in all areas investigated, with dry feed ingredient production being feasible only on the eastern seaboard.

  • The four-week weaner trial found no significant differences in performance or faecal amino acid digestibility of weaner pigs fed a 20% mixed food waste additive compared to those fed only a commercial weaner diet.

Australia currently lacks the legislative framework to support uptake by both the food and livestock industries. Safe implementation will therefore require the development of policy and legislative frameworks.

This work has been supported by the End Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre whose activities are funded by the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Program.

The APRIL Enterprise Award is open for 2025!

The APRIL Enterprise Award will be granted to an individual (or individuals) working in the pork industry that can demonstrate innovation and excellence in one or more of the following themes:

  • Innovations resulting in new products, methodologies and/or services. 
  • Potential for accelerated adoption of an innovation to improve performance and efficiency. 
  • Potential for commercialisation opportunities through APRIL. 

The award winner (or winners) will be selected by an industry-based panel and will be announced at the APRIL Stakeholders’ Forum in Melbourne on Thursday 20th November 2025. The Award winner(s) will be eligible to be invited to attend and eligible to receive a cash prize (as per the Terms & Conditions)

Applications close 5pm AEDT, 24 October 2025.

Good luck!

Escaping the Daily Grind: Coarser Ground Diets for Improved Fetal Growth.


APRIL supported project (5A-111)

Researchers: Jess Zemitis, Dr Sally Tritton, Dr Darryl D’Souza, and Dr Kate Plush (Sunpork Group).

When it comes to feeding sows in gestation, we often focus on nutrient levels, energy content, and feed efficiency. But new insights suggest something as simple as the grind size of feed could have a surprising impact on piglet development before birth.  

Coarser feed particles, unlike finer ones, tend to pass through the small intestine relatively undigested, reaching the hindgut intact. Once there, the feed particles are a fermentable substrate for beneficial gut microbes. This process, call hindgut fermentation, produces short-chain-fatty-acids (SCFAs) like butyrate, which has been linked to improved fetal growth in previous rat studies. 

Research Question: Could feeding sows a coarser ground diet throughout gestation (standard gestational diet with 40% feed particles >1mm) affect growth and development of piglets in utero? 

In this series of projects, sows were fed either a coarsely ground diet (40% feed particles greater than 1mm) or Control diet (30% feed particles greater than 1mm). Each sow was fed 2.1kg per day via electronic sow feeder, or 2.4kg per day for thinner sows (P2 backfat less than 16mm).

Figure 1. Gestating sows fed either a coarsely ground diet (40% particles > 1mm) on the left or Control diet (30% particles > 1mm) on the right-hand side.

Snapshot of key findings:

  • Coarser particle diets increased short chain fatty acid production in the feaces and serum of gestating sows, with a tendency for increased serum butyrate. 
  • Sows fed the coarser diet had fewer low birthweight piglets.
  • Supplementing coarser diets with an exogenous enzyme led to increased litter sizes, supporting greater sow productivity. 

Further work is required to determine the exact mechanism(s) by which a coarser diet fed to gestating sows reduced the impact of low birthweight piglets. Additionally, there may be other benefits to feeding larger grain particles to sows not quantified in this project. 

 
 

APRIL Enterprise Award 2023

Now Open – APRIL Enterprise Award 2023 Applications

Applications for the 2023 APRIL Enterprise Award are now open, and close 16 October 2023.

The APRIL Enterprise Award is open to anyone and will be granted to an individual (or individuals) working in the pork industry that can demonstrate innovation and excellence in one or more of the following themes: 

  • Innovations resulting in new products, new methodologies, new services. 
  • Potential for accelerated adoption of an innovation to improve performance and efficiency. 
  • Potential for commercialisation opportunities through APRIL. 

Information associated with the Enterprise Award is available here: