Upcycled food ingredients

Cargill Inc., Nestlé and Matriark Foods are among the companies associated with this field. Cargill’s reported activity includes a partnership with Voyage Foods to support commercial supply of bean-free coffee and chocolate ingredients. Nestlé’s work aligns with transforming bio-based side streams into food ingredients, while Matriark Foods appears among organizations active in the area.

Greencovery and Matriark Foods are two relevant names, though the available information does not establish a ranking. In September 2026, Dutch startup Greencovery raised €1M to scale cocoa-waste upcycling for functional ingredients. Matriark Foods is identified as a startup in the field, but the available facts do not specify a current product launch or funding event for it.

The University of Vigo, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, and University College Dublin are active research organizations in this field. Their recent work includes food-waste biotransformation, spent-grain valorization and cocoa replacers made from spent grain and cocoa husk. The recorded figures include 9 documents for the University of Vigo and 7 each for the other two organizations.

The recorded metrics list $29,787,489 in grants across 15 grants since 2020, plus 10 funding rounds totaling $88,377,744. These are separate measures and should not be added together. The individual funding-round records include entries that may not be specific to upcycled food ingredients, so they warrant verification before use in investment comparisons.

Kiverdi Inc. is the largest named patent holder, with 3 patents. The field recorded 22 patents in the defined 24-month window, and patent activity declined 42.9% compared with the previous 12 months. These figures indicate that patenting is present but has recently moved in the opposite direction from publication activity.

Recent studies are moving from identifying valuable residues toward testing their performance and safety in food applications. In October 2026, the University of Greenwich studied watermelon peel powder in gluten-free bread, and University of Valencia researchers assessed contaminants and pulsed-electric-field processing in fruit peels. September 2026 work also examined AI-guided microbial engineering for vegetable-waste conversion.

Recent methods include pulsed electric fields for fruit peels, ultrasound processing and Aspergillus luchuensis fermentation for okara, and synergistic microbial engineering with artificial intelligence for vegetable waste. These approaches aim to improve extraction, conversion or ingredient functionality. Their practical value depends on producing safe, consistent materials that can work in food formulations.

The main approaches are fiber ingredients, protein ingredients, bioactive extracts, recovered oils and fats, and pigments and flavor compounds. Each targets a different useful fraction of a food side stream. Fiber and protein approaches focus on nutritional and formulation properties, while extracts, oils, pigments and flavors target specific compounds. Processing complexity, consistency and product performance vary by approach.

The United States leads the recorded country activity with 2,348 documents, followed by the United Kingdom with 683 and India with 626. China, Germany and Switzerland also appear among the most active countries. These figures describe recorded documents, not necessarily commercial production or the location of every organization developing ingredients.

Recorded applications include functional nutrition, beverages, bakery and snacks, plant-based foods and dairy foods. Functional nutrition has 580 documents, while beverages has 552 and bakery and snacks has 447. Examples from recent research include spent-grain pasta and bread, fruit-pomace biscuits, and watermelon-peel powder in gluten-free bread.