Japanese food companies 'upcycle' leftovers into tidy profits

Small firms offer creative solutions for making waste eatable and drinkable

20211203 CrustJapan beer

Crust Japan offers beer made from leftover bread tossed out by factories and bakeries. (Photo courtesy of Crust Japan)

RURIKA IMAHASHI and NANA SHIBATA, Nikkei staff writers

TOKYO -- Tossing away good food should be a crime, and a few Japanese companies are getting creative about turning somebody's leftovers into something tasty.

Food wastage occurs across many developed nations, with some 1.3 billion tons of edibles discarded globally every year, while one in nine people do not have enough and suffer from malnutrition.

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