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Burgers made from chaff - what will they think of next
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what a stroker‘Chaff-burgers’ made from wheat waste ‘could be on the shelves within five years’
The boss of Quorn hopes to develop a way to ferment the leftovers and turn them into a protein to be forged into food products
ByJoe Pinkstone20 June 2021 • 7:00pm
Eight billion tonnes of chaff are made globally each year and largely go to waste, with most being burned or ploughed back into the ground CREDIT: Joe Giddens/PA
"Chaff-burgers" made from crop waste will be a reality within five years, according to the boss of Quorn.
Eight billion tonnes of chaff is created around the world each year and largely goes to waste, with most being burned or ploughed back into the ground.
Chaff is a name for discarded parts of crops such as wheat and barley, which are left behind after the grain has been extracted and include straw, leaves and husks.
Marco Bertacca, the CEO of Quorn, told The Telegraph he hopes to develop a way to ferment the leftovers and turn them into a protein to be forged into food products.
He said developing an environmentally-friendly method to do this would "change the world" by slashing the greenhouse gas emissions made by farming.
Quorn, based in Stokesley, Yorkshire, has already started work on creating the technology needed to recycle the harvest leftovers.
But the difficulty is that the main component of the waste is a polymer called lignocellulose, which makes up the walls of the plant cells and is extremely tough. There is as yet no way to make use of this, despite it being the most abundant raw material on the planet.
Mr Bertacca admitted the company is still at the "theory stage" and does not yet have a proposed technology, but told The Telegraph he is hopeful it will have found a way to turn lignocellulose into a useful protein in just five years.
He envisions a fermentation method akin to Quorn's current model, which takes the arable waste and converts it into a dough-like mycoprotein, the bedrock of all Quorn products.
The crop waste created could become the mycoprotein equivalent to five million cows, according to Marco Bertacca CREDIT: Arnd Wiemann/Reuters
Quorn’s original method was developed more than 30 years ago and hinges on a microfungus called Fusarium venenatum. Although it took 20 years for the company to scale up that technology, Mr Bertacca has taken inspiration from the rapid development and rollout of Covid vaccines.
"Historically, it took ages [to get a vaccine] and then all of a sudden, people started to work together and we have found something which has changed how we have done things," he said.
"I really believe that if we work with a group of other, like-minded people, we can crack this and change the world of protein in the space of five years."
Mr Bertacca said eight billion tonnes of waste crop are created globally every year, adding: "When you translate it into what it could be, we would be able to ferment that and create mycoprotein equivalent to five million cows, which is about three times the amount of cows we have on the planet now."
This, he says, has two main benefits – helping meet the growing demand for food and slashing the volume of greenhouse gases produced by farming. Emissions from animal agriculture are responsible for almost a fifth (18 per cent) of all greenhouse gas emissions made worldwide.
Boris Johnson's Government said in December that they wanted to reduce CO2 emissions by 68 per cent by 2030 – the most ambitious target of any major economy. But many experts believe that to be too ambitious and only attainable if there is radical change to the daily lives of Britons.
The proposed technology Quorn is diving into has the potential to reduce the dependence on meat as mycoprotein uses 90 per cent less land, 90 per cent less water and 90 per cent less CO2 for the same amount of product.
"The ability for us to produce, at scale, a product approaching the price of animal protein is what will flip the world," Mr Bertacca said. "There are people that are selling a burger for $5. Fine, there will be some people that can afford to pay $5 a burger.
"But I can tell you they're not going to change the world with that, because we need to find a way to be able to be affordable. For me, the ability of transforming this eight billion tonnes of waste into five billion cows – that really gets me out of bed.
GeorgeK
Member
- Location
- Leicestershire
Chaff is a waste product 
, yeah sure it's only the organic matter the soil is made of who needs that? It's a good job Quorn don't run farms, they'd be down to scratching about on the bedrock by now.
You can see why these geniuses get paid the big bucks, Quorn will be going to a gold bullion maker next asking if they can have all the offcuts and trimmings that obviously get thrown in the bin.
, yeah sure it's only the organic matter the soil is made of who needs that? It's a good job Quorn don't run farms, they'd be down to scratching about on the bedrock by now.You can see why these geniuses get paid the big bucks, Quorn will be going to a gold bullion maker next asking if they can have all the offcuts and trimmings that obviously get thrown in the bin.
- Location
- 200 miles N,NW of New York
Well thats the offering from Yorkshire, the war of the food roses is back on, over in Lancashire, 3 brothers, Ivor, Thomas and Simon Hite, are hard at work in the laboratory and about to start trials of recovering protein from food waste after its passed through humans,
Will be high class burgers from IT,Shite, sold only in organic shops for a start, but Trescos have offered to buy part of the business by offering recycled toilet paper for napkins, mean while Macan is wanting to have a gamble on the new venture and has put all the chips on Red to win, these are not the only big players in the game, Sunburys are holding talks to see if they can take part of the ITShite products, but Iceland is playing it cool and just watching from the sidelines, aLDi says they want nothing to do with it and won't get there hands dirty, but there is a sting in the tail as hindz want the sauce contract for the nettle sauce, and booze busters want to ferment the p1ss, and recycle into wine,
Mean while the BBC reports its all going well and new products will be on the shelf by October, but to the contrary Sky news says its as clear as muddy water, with not only grey areas, but lots of brown areas aswell, and they can smell something and its not beef, yet the public will lap it up as its on the BBC,
Spokesman for ITShite said "we are getting runs of it now, and time will tell it its a success, and hope it all goes down the pan" they hope they can bring employment to an area where there is lots of obesity, as that is where the better quality of poo is, and the food will be laced with liquorice to taste better and moreish as its a natural laxative to pass quickly through, retaining more protein
so we could see factories popping up around the country, and mainly a sideline for portaloo businesses,
The byproduct from this process will be sold to the Scottish for Haggis production with delicate flavouring
Will be high class burgers from IT,Shite, sold only in organic shops for a start, but Trescos have offered to buy part of the business by offering recycled toilet paper for napkins, mean while Macan is wanting to have a gamble on the new venture and has put all the chips on Red to win, these are not the only big players in the game, Sunburys are holding talks to see if they can take part of the ITShite products, but Iceland is playing it cool and just watching from the sidelines, aLDi says they want nothing to do with it and won't get there hands dirty, but there is a sting in the tail as hindz want the sauce contract for the nettle sauce, and booze busters want to ferment the p1ss, and recycle into wine,
Mean while the BBC reports its all going well and new products will be on the shelf by October, but to the contrary Sky news says its as clear as muddy water, with not only grey areas, but lots of brown areas aswell, and they can smell something and its not beef, yet the public will lap it up as its on the BBC,
Spokesman for ITShite said "we are getting runs of it now, and time will tell it its a success, and hope it all goes down the pan" they hope they can bring employment to an area where there is lots of obesity, as that is where the better quality of poo is, and the food will be laced with liquorice to taste better and moreish as its a natural laxative to pass quickly through, retaining more protein
so we could see factories popping up around the country, and mainly a sideline for portaloo businesses,
The byproduct from this process will be sold to the Scottish for Haggis production with delicate flavouring
Shep
Member
- Location
- The Orchard County
Brilliant!
SilliamWhale
Member
When the dust settles people will actually realise that meat is a superfood.
Sure we want to produce it in an environmentally friendly and ethical way but it really is a super source of nutrition for people.
Sure we want to produce it in an environmentally friendly and ethical way but it really is a super source of nutrition for people.
- Location
- DD9.
it’ll be veg next, grown in that horrible dirty soil. Must be dangerous.
Far better to have an alternative, produced in a sterile environment.
SilliamWhale
Member
Yes don't underestimate the ££ corporations want to make in mark up from vegan products. Its a big mark up.
- Location
- Carmarthenshire, West Wales
I am sure I read somewhere, that in California the soil or fields can't have any "other" stuff in there that could "contaminate" the food. Pretty sure too that the soil test man said, horticultural soils are dead, because of the amounts of sprays, fertliser etc.
- Location
- South Wales UK
Organic and Vegan.
Unscrupulous butchers years ago use to get prosecuted for scrapping the block adding fillers?, bread crumbs etc etc to fill their mystery burgers up allegedly???
Unscrupulous butchers years ago use to get prosecuted for scrapping the block adding fillers?, bread crumbs etc etc to fill their mystery burgers up allegedly???
- Location
- People's Republic of South Yorkshire
Never as we have no one telling the public the truth.
betweenthelines
Member
- Location
- southwest
"a protein to be forged into food products"
Never was there a more apt use of the word "forged"
Never was there a more apt use of the word "forged"
- Location
- Devon
Brilliantly put.
The problem is, this is not a joke, it is an accurate synopsis.
Investment opportunities will become scarce IF there is any genuine attempt to make the world more sustainable. The best 'new market' is food supply. A guaranteed demand, you just need to have the 'rights' to a supply. A patented process for some 'gloop' is a fantastic financial proposition. You can't control supply of any natural products.
You just need to make sure it is produced by a Limited Company so that your wealth isn't at risk when the inevitable health issues arise.
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ACEngineering
Member
- Location
- Oxon
So if its waste then there going to need a waste license then to shift it off farm
Amen. I'd just add that there is an increasing number of "scientists" who are scientifically illiterate. The world becomes a scarier place every single day.
SilliamWhale
Member
We've moved into this weird world where meat eating is seen as bad/ unkind/ cruel etc and vegetables is worthy kinder etc.
I think its roots are a lot in the crossover with Indian non meat eating cultures and the environmental movement attaching itself to Jainism as some sort of spiritual enviro guardian.
Cab-over Pete
Member
- Location
- Kenilworth, Warwickshire
20 odd years ago I recall wondering why on Earth every young person in the world seems to want to get a degree.
Now I’m not saying we should deny anybody and education, far from it, but if you want to go to uni, have an aim in life. Half these kids go just to make up the numbers. They have no idea why they’re there and no plan for their useless degree once they’ve left.
However, once they’ve got that scroll they have to justify the degree, which some do by dreaming up this kind of total wanksnot and others do by getting two shifts a week in Burger King.
They seem to have forgotten totally that there are nowhere near the amount of careers that need a degree as there are graduates looking, so they dream up ever more ridiculous ideas like this.
We need more people who are happy to empty bins. If we don’t have such people then we really WILL need more proper scientists and doctors.
farmerm
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
The “nations most popular” sausage maker Richmond are advertising meat free bacon 
. I can imagine it wouldn’t be a big step to make the switch to a meat free copy of their sausages!!
Writing is on the wall!
. I can imagine it wouldn’t be a big step to make the switch to a meat free copy of their sausages!!Writing is on the wall!
Cab-over Pete
Member
- Location
- Kenilworth, Warwickshire
Do their sausages actually have meat in them anyway?
They just look like little bags of strawberry yoghurt.
They just look like little bags of strawberry yoghurt.