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A recent article in the Science Business magazine says that Europeans throw away about 88 million tonnes of food every year. Estonian University of Life Sciences has started a new project to reduce food waste, and scientists are beginning to study the transformation of food waste into bioplastics or nature-friendly cosmetics.

Last year, the European Commission approved an application from Estonian University of Life Sciences to make research work on food by-products and provided 2.5 million euros. The University created a new ERA Chair of Food and By-products Technology (VALORTECH). Rajeev Bhat from India, who has been working at the university since the beginning of 2019, leads the chair and has recruited an international working group.

The chair strives to combine all food topics (meat, milk, cereals, vegetarian food) with the aim to fully utilize the raw materials. The chair is contributed by the Polli Knowledge-based Health and Natural Product Competence Center of the Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and the Chair of Food Science and Food Technology at the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry.