S’pore firms transform food waste into new, useful products

Mottainai Food Tech collects barley spent grains from breweries and other companies and converts them into plant-based tuna flakes through fermentation.

Barley spent grains (BSGs) are a byproduct of the brewing process of products like beer and Milo. They are a major cause of food waste, with about 55 tonnes of BSGs produced daily in Singapore.

Mottainai Food Tech collects these high-fibre BSGs from breweries and other companies like Nestle and converts them into plant-based tuna flakes through fermentation.

In the long term, Mottainai aims to sell plant-based tuna products such as pastries. Their model follows the successful commercialisation of a plant-based meat product made from fermented soya byproduct okara.

The company works with Nanyang Technological University’s Asian Centre for Health Behavioural Insights Interventions and Singapore Polytechnic’s Food Innovation and Resource Centre.

Plant-based tuna prototypes made by Mottainai Food Tech.

Daryl Pek, the company’s co-founder, explained that the Japanese phrase ‘mottainai’ translates to the lament ‘What a waste!’.

“It’s our philosophy that every resource is valuable and holds a lot of potential. That’s why we find ways to recycle, upcycle, and use them in different ways,” he said.

Mottainai Food Tech co-founder Daryl Pek preparing a batch of barley spent grains for valorisation.

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S’pore firms transform food waste into new, useful products