Untapped power of food system by-products to increase global food supply | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Untapped power of food system by-products to increase global food supply Vilma Sandström, Anna Chrysafi, Marjukka Lamminen, Max Troell, and 6 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-990009/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 19 Sep, 2022 Read the published version in Nature Food → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Many animal feeds compete for resources with human food production. The current use of food system by-products and residues as feed could potentially be increased to reduce the competition. We gathered a harmonised global food system material flow database for crop, livestock and aquaculture production including the availability of food system by-products. This allowed us to analyse the potential to replace the food-competing feedstuff, here cereals, whole fish, vegetable oils and pulses, that currently account for 11% of total feed used globally, with available food system by-products. While considering the nutritional requirements in animal production, we found that the replacement could free food-grade feeds for human consumption and increase the current food supply in kcal by 11-17% (6-11% if the use of crop residues is not accounted for) and in terms of protein 11-15% (9-14%). Our results thus indicate that the increased feed use of by-products has considerable potential, particularly when used in combination with other measures, in the much needed transition towards more sustainable and circular food systems. Environmental Policy circularity sustainable food systems livestock feed aquaculture feed byproducts Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SIdata.xlsx Supplementary Data Set 7 SupplementaryInformation.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 19 Sep, 2022 Read the published version in Nature Food → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-990009","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":60548476,"identity":"1926c8ec-3735-46ee-99a8-1c87f96e5315","order_by":0,"name":"Vilma Sandström","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Water and Development Research Group, Aalto University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vilma","middleName":"","lastName":"Sandström","suffix":""},{"id":60548477,"identity":"21276d89-8e68-43e0-bb58-7894cd2a1dd3","order_by":1,"name":"Anna Chrysafi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Water and Development Research Group, Aalto University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anna","middleName":"","lastName":"Chrysafi","suffix":""},{"id":60548478,"identity":"698c2449-711b-4a38-8023-a7f11222cac4","order_by":2,"name":"Marjukka Lamminen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Department of Agricultural Sciences,University of Helsinki","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Marjukka","middleName":"","lastName":"Lamminen","suffix":""},{"id":60548479,"identity":"f09a3200-9d64-41f9-84ad-739b65a3c097","order_by":3,"name":"Max Troell","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7509-8140","institution":"Stockholm Resilience Centre","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Max","middleName":"","lastName":"Troell","suffix":""},{"id":60548480,"identity":"25383f6c-61a4-4d5b-a64b-b8121e36c13e","order_by":4,"name":"Mika Jalava","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4133-7462","institution":"Aalto University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mika","middleName":"","lastName":"Jalava","suffix":""},{"id":60548481,"identity":"cae15d2d-2843-42b3-957b-5d7919912ffb","order_by":5,"name":"Johannes Piipponen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Water and Development Research Group, Aalto University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Johannes","middleName":"","lastName":"Piipponen","suffix":""},{"id":60548482,"identity":"8a9d2191-f1a2-46da-9798-c89a29b092d0","order_by":6,"name":"Stefan Siebert","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9998-0672","institution":"University of Göttingen","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Stefan","middleName":"","lastName":"Siebert","suffix":""},{"id":60548483,"identity":"43bf01ae-6304-4a65-b703-a616e3004bbf","order_by":7,"name":"Ollie van Hal","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Louis Bolk Institute","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ollie","middleName":"van","lastName":"Hal","suffix":""},{"id":60548484,"identity":"242d868e-1d4d-46ef-9658-a7451ea7957c","order_by":8,"name":"Vili Virkki","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Water and Development Research Group, Aalto University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vili","middleName":"","lastName":"Virkki","suffix":""},{"id":60548485,"identity":"277175a6-9474-4417-8190-166c706ae5e5","order_by":9,"name":"Matti Kummu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAy0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLCCBCAEAsYHDAwWYPoAfvXMjA1QLcwGDAwSEiCasBYGiBY2CZgWvBp0288ff/CAIS1x7bQzZhU/aiTq+IGG4LXF7EwyyGE5idtu55jd7DkmISHZwMyAX8sBsJYKsJYbPGwSEgYH+A/g13L+MUJL4Z9/IC2EbLmB5DBm3jaitDw2nJFgkGa87XZasbRsn4TkzGZCWs4nPvj4oyJZdtvt5I0f33yz4ednb2b+gE8LBKBEBDNh9aNgFIyCUTAKCAAAOLJLexH2UmAAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5096-0163","institution":"Aalto University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Matti","middleName":"","lastName":"Kummu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2021-10-18 11:00:58","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-990009/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-990009/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00589-6","type":"published","date":"2022-09-19T04:00:00+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":26689987,"identity":"2961c67e-e8af-414c-9e53-cc36f338bd59","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2022-09-20 07:06:16","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1036301,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Byproductsfinalanonimized.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-990009/v1_covered.pdf"},{"id":15104570,"identity":"224abe09-eb55-429c-92c3-3b30f4387d53","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-11-01 17:55:55","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1030681,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Byproductsfinalanonimized.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-990009/v1_covered.pdf"},{"id":15104568,"identity":"5df36b5e-1686-4932-b554-5b5aeba7589f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-11-01 17:55:49","extension":"xlsx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":73937,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Data Set 7","description":"","filename":"SIdata.xlsx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-990009/v1/71dba5eb302d513c2a3fa231.xlsx"},{"id":15104569,"identity":"175a50d2-e83a-49ad-af84-68d5f47fca98","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2021-11-01 17:55:49","extension":"pdf","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":459061,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryInformation.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-990009/v1/e63cb210c82dd6f326238dd5.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Untapped power of food system by-products to increase global food supply","fulltext":[{"header":"Full Text","content":"This preprint is available for \u003ca href='/article/rs-990009/latest.pdf' target='_blank'\u003edownload as a PDF\u003c/a\u003e."}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"
[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"circularity, sustainable food systems, livestock feed, aquaculture feed, byproducts","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-990009/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-990009/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Many animal feeds compete for resources with human food production. The current use of food system by-products and residues as feed could potentially be increased to reduce the competition. We gathered a harmonised global food system material flow database for crop, livestock and aquaculture production including the availability of food system by-products. This allowed us to analyse the potential to replace the food-competing feedstuff, here cereals, whole fish, vegetable oils and pulses, that currently account for 11% of total feed used globally, with available food system by-products. While considering the nutritional requirements in animal production, we found that the replacement could free food-grade feeds for human consumption and increase the current food supply in kcal by 11-17% (6-11% if the use of crop residues is not accounted for) and in terms of protein 11-15% (9-14%). Our results thus indicate that the increased feed use of by-products has considerable potential, particularly when used in combination with other measures, in the much needed transition towards more sustainable and circular food systems.","manuscriptTitle":"Untapped power of food system by-products to increase global food supply","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2021-11-01 17:55:47","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-990009/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"
[email protected]","identity":"nature-food","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"natfood","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Food](http://www.nature.com/natfood/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Food","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Research","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"faf84b52-7bbb-40db-82f5-eb7a9b976107","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 1st, 2021","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":8245436,"name":"Environmental Policy"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2022-09-20T07:06:01+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-990009","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00589-6","journal":{"identity":"nature-food","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Nature Food"},"publishedOn":"2022-09-19 04:00:00","publishedOnDateReadable":"September 19th, 2022"},"versionCreatedAt":"2021-11-01 17:55:47","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s43016-022-00589-6","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-022-00589-6","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-990009","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-990009","identity":"rs-990009","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"_2-kVJe1T_tPrBINL-cwx","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}
Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below.
Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure
cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can
have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy
(via DOI)
is the canonical version.