Today, The Wonderful Company (TWC) — parent company
to food and beverage brands including FIJI® Water, POM Wonderful®, Wonderful®
Pistachios, Wonderful® Halos®, Wonderful® Seedless Lemons, Teleflora®, JUSTIN®
Wines and more — announced the winners of its inaugural Wonderful Innovation
Challenge, a platform designed to spur
innovation across TWC and scale its sustainability efforts.
Through the Challenge, innovators were offered up to $1 million in funding and
development resources for their environmentally friendly, pilot-ready solutions
to transform the 50,000 tons of nutrient-dense pomegranate husks generated each
year during production of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice into a value-added
resource. To engage the greatest number of innovator applicants and ensure the
winning innovations found the highest and best use for the husks, TWC partnered
with ReFED — the national nonprofit working to end food
loss and waste across the food system, as the Strategic Advisor and Managing
Partner for the challenge.
“As America’s largest farmer of tree crops and the nation’s second-biggest
produce company, we recognize that sustainability is crucial for the wellbeing
of our planet as well as our products,” said Steve Swartz, EVP of strategy
and technology at The Wonderful Company. “We are delighted to support the two
innovators who each embody our mission to continually strive for a more
sustainable world by embracing bold, innovative ideas.”
Work to utilize previously wasted byproducts of food and beverage production
continues to proliferate, even creating a burgeoning industry of its own —
Whole Foods declared upcycled food a Top 10 trend in 2021; and a 2019
Future Market
report
estimated the upcycled food market’s worth at $46.7 billion, with an expected
CAGR of 5 percent over the next 10 years. The creation of the Upcycled Food
Association; its recent
certification;
and the growing roster of upcycled food
products
and nutritious, value-added
ingredients
are testament to the trend’s staying power — and its potential to help mitigate
not only food waste but the impacts of climate
change.
the exciting potential of cultivated, fermented and plant-based protein innovation
Join us as Aleph Farms, the Better Meat Co, the Good Food Institute and Plantible Foods discuss the latest advancements in cultivated, plant-based, and fermentation-derived proteins — and how incorporating alternative proteins can help brands significantly reduce environmental impacts, while conserving natural resources — Tuesday, Oct. 15 at SB'24 San Diego.
Now, The Wonderful Company has jumped on board with the selection of two winning
startups — out of nearly 400 applicants from across the globe and the innovation
spectrum, with solutions ranging from sustainable textiles and bioplastics to
alternative meat and bioenergy — to share a $1 million prize and help scaling
their technologies to turn the previously discarded pomegranate husks into
nutritious, new products:
-
BCD Bioscience — an emerging biotechnology
spinout from the University of California, Davis creating ingredients
for food, ag and biopharmaceutical applications. The startup is creating the
world’s first library of
oligosaccharides
(a type of carbohydrate that does not increase blood glucose or insulin
secretion, resulting in many potential benefits to human health) and
developing them into health-boosting ingredients. Together with POM
Wonderful, BCD believes it can produce a new class of high-value, soluble
fiber ingredients that can be added to beverages to provide a source of
dietary fiber with strong and differentiated prebiotic effects.
-
Enagon — a manufacturer of powdering,
pulverization and drying equipment. From biochar to hemp to yellow peas,
Enagon’s proprietary process re-envisions the way food waste and
food-processing byproducts are dried and ground into powders. The company is
committed to working with companies worldwide to help reduce waste and
create a smaller footprint for humanity.
“The Wonderful Company is a great example of a business that understands the
positive social, economic and environmental potential of converting what others
might simply consider manufacturing byproducts or food waste into other
value-added products,” said Alexandria Coari, VP of capital, innovation and
engagement at
ReFED.
“By partnering on this Challenge with them, we were so excited to see the
breakthrough, creative food waste solutions that came from the winners and all
applicants. This Challenge underscores our collective commitment to growth
that’s responsible to people and the planet.”
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Dec 1, 2021 10am EST / 7am PST / 3pm GMT / 4pm CET