Joco Today

U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D., has led a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the omission of 'rendering' from the Administration’s Draft National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics (“Draft Strategy”). Rendering is a process that recycles leftover animal scraps from various sources, converting food waste into products such as soap, candles, biofuels, among others.

The exclusion of rendering from the Draft Strategy contradicts the Administration’s mission of supporting a comprehensive approach to mitigating food waste and previous recycling efforts promoted by the federal government. Rendering has been an integral part of American agriculture for over a century, demonstrating its practical sustainability. Including rendering in the draft strategy could expand opportunities for small and medium meat processing facilities to receive grants and loans through legislation.

Senator Marshall's legislation is cosponsored by Senators Moran (R-KS), Bennet (D-CO), Klobuchar (D-MN), Boozman (R-AR), Stabenow (D-MI), Padilla (D-CA), and Smith (D-MN).

In their letter addressed to Administrator Regan, Secretary Vilsack, and Commissioner Califf, they expressed concern about the omission of rendering from the Draft Strategy. The EPA, USDA, and FDA released this strategy last December without including rendering – a sector which has significantly reduced our nation’s food waste since the late 1800s.

The U.S. rendering industry recycles 99% of unwanted and leftover animal materials considered inedible. Each year, renderers divert over 54 billion pounds of raw materials from landfills transforming them into ingredients for dozens of products including biofuels, pet food, and organic fertilizer.

The senators urge EPA, USDA, and FDA to ensure that rendering is included as part of our nation’s food loss and waste reduction strategy. They also request that EPA update its Wasted Food Scale to reflect the importance of rendering as a management strategy for wasted food.