What do chickpea noodles, ancient grain porridge, and cactus cookies have in common, other than the fact that they don't last long in your cupboard?
These are three of the attractive food and beverage products that have successfully progressed to the product manufacturing stage. Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Great Food Redesign Challenge.It was launched a year ago with the help of Trust in sustainable foodthe competition aims to encourage the food industry to create products that actively help nature thrive.
The design phase began last fall with 186 products. After submitting detailed plans to a review committee, 166 products from companies on all continents were given permission to proceed to the production stage. Products that our judges continue to believe have positive benefits for nature will reach the final exhibition stage in 2025. This stage gives them the opportunity to line up at retailers including Waitrose in the UK and Carrefour Group in Brazil.
The Big Food Redesign Challenge aims to bring circular economy to the food industry, giving manufacturers the opportunity to design (or redesign) food to positively impact the natural world.
Highly motivated to take on challenges. Food systems currently have a huge negative impact on the natural world, producing a third of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and half of anthropogenic pressure on biodiversity. Greenhouse gases are generated during farming, harvesting, harvesting, transportation, processing, packaging, distribution, cooking, and waste disposal. On the other hand, clearing land for agriculture causes habitat loss, while many conventional farming practices lead to air and water pollution and overexploitation of natural resources.
Opportunity for food manufacturers
It is recognized worldwide (for the first time, Among the published outcomes of COP28) Circular economy approaches play an important role in mitigating climate change. Given that the food system contributes significantly to this problem, it is an industry worth addressing.
The Big Food Redesign Challenge aims to bring circular economy to the food industry, giving manufacturers the opportunity to design (or redesign) food to positively impact the natural world.
Circular design helps achieve this. In short, it means making the most of what is already produced to feed people while actively regenerating nature. This means protecting and prioritizing the diversity of individual landscapes, which is a key aspect of healthy functioning ecosystems.
Food manufacturers have great potential to promote landscape protection and restoration through their design and purchasing decisions. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation's Circular Design For Food Framework (which forms our criteria for this challenge) provides guidance on how to do this. This is rooted in regenerative manufacturing, but also extends to his three key raw material sourcing strategies: upcycling, low impact, diversity, and a circular approach to packaging.
![Circular Design for Food Framework (for Big Food Redesign Challenge)](https://www.greenbiz.com/sites/default/files/2024-02/BFRC%20Framework_EMF.jpg)
![Circular Design for Food Framework (for Big Food Redesign Challenge)](https://www.greenbiz.com/sites/default/files/2024-02/BFRC%20Framework_EMF.jpg)
The foundation is guiding progressive food companies embarking on this path. As part of this challenge, we will provide them with expert assistance, support their retail listings, and support their innovative minds in supporting the expansion of design options that allow nature to thrive. To do.
The products being created (or further developed) come from a wide range of product areas, including pet food, alcoholic beverages, and snacks.
Design choices feed the land
spoon cereal“ Ancient grain porridge is one of the products that has advanced to the production stage of this challenge. Porridge's popularity in the UK (where the company is based) means its design has huge potential to make a positive impact.
Oats (usually the white variety) are grown using high-intensity methods, often using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The Spoon version uses black oats, a diverse variety of naturally pest-resistant crops, and okara, a high-protein oat milk byproduct that is typically only fed to animals but can be upcycled into ingredients.
Spoon's team also discovered a cunning way to utilize oat hulls, derived from oatmeal flour, to form 25 percent of the product's compostable packaging.
kenya company Dunia Bora We are also in the production phase of the challenge. Designed with Kenya's arid landscape in mind, the company turns desert cactus plants, which support soil health and require little water to grow, into flour for cookies, and the resulting pulp is planning to turn it into juice. What the company calls „deformed“ bananas (bananas that would normally be discarded due to their shape) are also used as raw materials, reducing potential waste through upcycling.
![Landscape (desert, mountains) near South Horror village, Kenya](https://www.greenbiz.com/sites/default/files/2024-02/Kenyan%20desert_Matyas%20Rehak_Shutterstock.jpg)
![Landscape (desert, mountains) near South Horror village, Kenya](https://www.greenbiz.com/sites/default/files/2024-02/Kenyan%20desert_Matyas%20Rehak_Shutterstock.jpg)
Dunia Bora also prioritizes locally sourced raw materials, contributing to the resilience of ecosystems and communities.
dedicate everything to nature
Most of the companies participating in this challenge are start-ups (such as Dunia Bora) and are able to enter the market directly with their own technology. Creative ideas and agile working styles. Many small business founders who have advanced to the production stage have already demonstrated their resilience by launching post-pandemic. We look forward to watching their progress in the challenge over the next 12 months as they develop and refine their circular business model.
We are equally pleased to see participation from major brands such as those owned by Nestlé. Maggi who created noodles Made with chickpea flour. Chickpeas require little water to grow, so they have a relatively low environmental impact. The project also includes the regeneration of previously barren land through a partnership with local farmers in India's Anantapur region.
The large scale of multinational companies means that circular design choices can be tested on a large scale, and ultimately other companies in the industry can benefit from this experimental work and its benefits can be extended to landscape health. It allows us to be reflected in our sexuality.
If you work in or work in the food industry and are excited about these green shoots of recovery; Please contact To find out more. A catalog with full details of related products will be available to retailers in March.
We will update the progress of participants. on our websitewe will be bringing the story of this challenge to GreenBiz readers later this year.