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Unsold grapes and leftover solids from wine-making have recently been used as livestock feed and to create other foodstuffs in central Japan amid efforts to reduce food waste.
Reusing grapes and wine pomace from Yamanashi Prefecture benefits farms struggling with the soaring cost of livestock feed in recent years and also ensures grape growers cut costs disposing of waste produce.
Kobayashi Cattle Farm in Kai in the prefecture has been selling “Koshu wine beef,” or beef raised with feed mixed with pomace. They have also been turning cattle manure into compost for grape farms.
A worker at the Kobayashi Cattle Farm gives pomace feed to cattle in Kai, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Aug. 5, 2024. (Kyodo)
According to the company, when cattle between the ages of 6 and 16 months are given feed incorporating pomace, which is rich in vitamins and polyphenols, their meat becomes tenderer and less gamy. The move has also saved the farm an annual 5 million yen ($33,000) in feed.
“Our products are increasing in value as our efforts toward circulatory agriculture have gained more recognition,” the company’s president Hideki Kobayashi, 47, said.
Another company in the prefecture, Asaya Foods, has been using so-called nonstandard grapes to create wine vinegar. Fruit that have split or are not considered to have good coloring are often disposed of by being buried in fields.
The company began producing wine vinegar using such grapes in 1959 under the previous president due to concerns over food waste. It was initially used by major hotels and restaurants until it gained traction among general consumers from around 2020.
The product’s price was raised by around 7 percent in February last year due to rising costs, but sales have not decreased due to ongoing interest.
“The times have finally caught up since our establishment 65 years ago. We hope many people have a taste,” the company’s president Hiroko Sugiyama, 63, said.
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