Reducing food waste has been identified by Project Drawdown as the first most impactful solution to climate change. Food waste causes detrimental effects on the environment, while also contributing to food insecurity. As a club, we are determined to make an impact on food waste by introducing programs that help the environment while also efficiently producing new products from waste.
When we learned that Ohio State wastes between 400-1,000 bagels weekly, we wanted to do something about it. Previous collaborations with the Upcycled Food Association CEO and Food Recovery Network served as a jumping-off point and highlighted many significant challenges associated with upcycling bagels. A shelf-stable bagel chip product was an upcycled product that could readily be created within the Food Science Department. The process includes procuring the bagels from campus cafes, delivering them to the Howlett Pilot Plant on Ag Campus, and processing them. Last year, the club produced concept artwork, formulations, cost analyses, and has formed a task force within the club to work out the final regulatory and production hurdles.
We are currently working on pilot trials and will be conducting sensory and shelf-life testing soon. Our goal for the Spring ‘21 semester is to complete a large-scale pilot trial by converting 1000 bagels into bagel chips. This will allow us to present a proof-of-concept to the Central Production Kitchen at OSU. The goal of the project is to create a product and process that the Central Production Kitchen at OSU can adopt for a large-scale upcycling process. Eventually, we hope that the model we create at OSU for upcycling bagels can be used at Universities nation-wide, contributing to a huge environmental impact and introducing a new, efficient production technique.