The majority of waste in manufacturing and processing facilities occurs during the removal of edible portions such as skin, fat, crusts, and peels from food items. Some of this waste is salvaged and repurposed for other uses — in the United States, approximately 33 percent of food waste from manufacturing is repurposed for animal feed. Despite these efforts to recover and reuse materials, around two billion pounds of food are still wasted during the processing or manufacturing stage. Various issues including overproduction, product damage, and technical malfunctions at manufacturing facilities contribute to these substantial amounts of food waste. Similar to farms, food processing facilities face vulnerabilities such as labor disruptions and shortages. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many meat processing facilities had to close due to workers falling ill, leading to the slaughtering and disposal of thousands of animals that could no longer be processed.
