Start-up produces food from bones and hard tissue

Leftovers from meat production

February 1, 2024 4:42 p.m. Robert Klatt

The start-up SuperGround produced chicken nuggets made from bones and hard tissue. The method aims to reduce food waste and CO₂ emissions in agriculture.

Helsinki, Finland). When chickens and cattle are industrially processed into meat products ready for sale, there are a lot of leftovers. Chickens have hard bones and tissue, according to Santtu Vekkeli, the start-up’s founder SuperGroundor a share of around 20 percent.

“Typically, bones are cooked in broths or fractionated to separate proteins, fats and other fractions when processed into food. Most bones are sent back into the food chain and simply disposed of in landfills.

SuperGround has therefore developed a method to produce food for populations from the remains of meat production. The aim is to reduce food waste and CO₂ emissions in agriculture, because fewer animals need to be raised for the same amount of food.

Tasty paste made from hard tissue

During a three-year development phase, SuperGround adapted several existing machines so that they could produce tasty dough from hard tissue. The method preserves most of the nutrients in the meat, such as heat-sensitive vitamins. The finished paste can then be mixed into muscle food products such as fish cakes and chicken nuggets.

“Hard tissue is an excellent food material and contains about the same amount of protein and fat as ground meat.”

According to the company, up to 50 percent of the mass of fish cakes can be replaced with raw materials such as fish heads, skins, scales and bones. In chicken nuggets, 30 percent of the mass can be replaced with thighs, breasts, back bones and wing tips without changing the taste, smell or bite.

The startup is currently looking for food production companies that can use this technology for their products. According to SuperGround, they could increase their feed yield by 20 to 70 percent if they also processed bones and hard tissues. According to Vekkeli, consumers are likely to accept foods containing bones and hard tissues as long as the characteristics of the product do not change.

“We’ve learned that people don’t want changes in the taste, mouthfeel or smell of their products. Recipe changes are a normal practice and people accept them provided that the products have the same sensory and nutritional properties.