Effect of feeding food waste-broiler litter and bakery by-product mixture to pigs

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of feeding aerobically processed and vacuum-dried food waste-broiler litter and bakery by-product mixture to finishing pigs on performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality and taste panel test. A corn-soy diet (Control) was replaced with food waste mixture (FWM) at dietary levels of 25% (25% FWM) and 50% (50% FWM) on a dry matter (DM) basis. Diets were fed to a total of 45 pigs (mean body weight 69.4 kg) during the eight wk of finishing period. After slaughtering, longissmus muscle at 24 h postmortem was used for meat quality analysis. Restaurant food waste was high in protein (22.0%) and fat (23.9%). Supplementing a corn-soy diet with FWM increased (P < 0.05) feed DM intake, did not alter (P > 0.05) average daily gain, decreased (P < 0.05) feed efficiency especially for 50% FWM treatment, and substantially reduced (P < 0.05) feed cost, compared with feeding a corn-soy diet only. Feeding FWM up to 50% did not affect (P > 0.05) carcass characteristics (carcass weight, dressing percentage, backfat thickness and carcass grade), meat fatty acid composition, meat quality (marbling score, pH, water holding capacity, drip loss, L*, a*, b* values, Warner-Bratzler shear force, cooking loss), and taste panel test (flavor, taste, tenderness, juiciness, and overall acceptance) compared with feeding a corn-soy diet. However, meat color was paler (P < 0.05) for 50% FWM fed animals than a corn-soy diet fed animals. Meat color was the only limiting factor when FWM was fed to finishing pigs. In conclusion, aerobically processed and vacuum-dried food waste-broiler litter and bakery by-product mixture was similar to a corn-soy diet in feed value for finishing pigs.