Food Fit for Pigs

Rajesh Jha and Halina Zaleski (both HNFAS) provide their expert opinions in a story in Civil Beat, “O‘ahu’s $4 Million Food Fight,” about what should be done with the island’s food waste. At present, much of it goes to feed pigs, providing a cheap source of nutrition for producers. City planners are advocating for the creation of a composting facility that would create a sustainable source of compost for Island crop farmers, but pig producers are concerned that this would divert needed feed from their animals. Still other pig farmers prefer not to use food-waste “slop,” since they say it leads to a lower quality of pork, but buying imported grain for feed is expensive. One solution, say Halina and Rajesh, is to invest in a food dehydrator rather than a composter: this would create a higher quality of feed for the pigs and would also allow O‘ahu’s food scraps to be shipped to neighbor islands, an option that isn’t economically feasible unless the waste is dehydrated. Stay tuned for continuing developments in this important food sustainability issue!