Brewing food security: Transforming food waste into sustainable nutrition
Food scientists turn byproducts into high-protein snacks with fermentation
As a food scientist, Reza Ovissipour, Ph.D., knows that one industry’s waste can be another’s solution to feeding a growing population — once you perfect the fermentation process.
In his lab at the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Food Science and Technology, he is pioneering ways to transform food waste into nutritious products that could become your new favorite snack.
Think protein bars made from spent brewery grains and coffee grounds or cookies packed with protein sourced from insects. With the power of fermentation science, Ovissipour and his team of researchers are transforming what was once considered waste into sustainable, tasty and surprisingly creative alternatives.
Together, they source protein from abundant, underutilized materials, including byproducts traditionally viewed as waste, and incorporate them into original products.
Reimagining and adding value to food waste
Just as whey, once discarded from cheese-making, came to dominate grocery store shelves via baby formulas and protein powders, Ovissipour’s lab is seeking more ways to add to the circular economy, where byproducts can become a resource instead of a burden.
His team includes program manager Setareh Shiroodi, Ph.D.; postdoctoral researcher Babak Pakbin, Ph.D.; graduate researchers Ikenna Okehie and Armaghan Amanipour; and undergraduate researcher Dan Do.
“Our goal is to turn these byproducts into something valuable and nourishing,” Ovissipour said. “Fermentation is at the core of everything we do in the lab. It allows us to convert simple ingredients into useful, value-added products.”
After several rounds of trial and error with the fermentation process, adjusting variables like temperatures, fermentation times and ingredient ratios, the team now has protein bars, cookies and other products that you’d never suspect have such an unusual ingredient list.
Snackable sustainability
At first glance, spent grains from breweries seem like an afterthought. Those leftover heaps of damp barley, which get stripped of their sugars during beer-making, don’t sound all that appealing to the average person. However, Ovissipour’s lab saw potential and found a way to give leftover barley a new life.
“There’s still a significant amount of protein left in these grains,” he said. “The trick is making it ready for human digestion.”
The team uses a two-step fermentation process to transform the leftover grains, which they received from collaborating local breweries.
First, they add fungi to break down the grains, making the protein within them digestible by humans. Then, they incorporated spent coffee grounds, an abundant waste product that the lab received from local coffee shops — and from their own coffee maker, which adds to both the nutritional value and flavor of the final product.
“Fermented coffee takes on a rich, chocolate-like flavor,” Ovissipour said. “It’s a natural way to add depth and sweetness without adding in chocolate, helping with both flavor and nutrition.”
Finally, after mixing in some nuts, the result is a chocolatey protein bar that serves as the perfect example of fermentation’s ability to unlock the potential going unused in our food system.
Buzzworthy cookies
Another often-overlooked source of protein comes from the insects all around us. Although insects have long been used in food and agriculture, Ovissipour’s lab is taking things a step further to ferment insect protein, enhancing its nutritional profile and taste.
This process ultimately created a fine, nutrient-rich powder that serves as a flour-like base for cookies. And after adding familiar flavors like vanilla and chocolate, the final products look and taste just like regular cookies.
“The flavors are great,” Ovissipour said. “With fermentation, we’re essentially feeding the insect protein to another organism — fungi — so it’s almost like it’s made anew. It’s a sustainable process that allows us to create something better, both nutritionally and flavor-wise.”
Brewing tomorrow’s sustainability solutions
The possibilities don’t stop at food. Ovissipour’s team has also developed leather-like biomaterials from fermented byproducts, which mimic the texture and flexibility of traditional leather without relying on animal hides. They’re also investigating new waste streams like surplus produce from grocery stores for more upcycling opportunities.
“We’ve barely scratched the surface,” Ovissipour said. “Fermentation is a really versatile process, and we have a lot of ideas for how we can use it for more projects like these.”
As Ovissipour and his team continue refining their creations, they are brewing a future where waste can be reimagined as an opportunity that’s as sustainable as it is satisfying.
“As our population continues to grow, we as researchers need to continue striving to be creative with finding new ways to feed the world,” he said. “And why not start with what we already have but aren’t using? Our work shows that we can build a stronger food system by turning our unused resources into something valuable — and have fun while we are at it.”
