How Rendering is Recycling: The Role of Rendering in Pet Food Production

The work that renderers do not only supports sustainability but also plays a vital role in maintaining the safety and quality of the products pet food manufacturers deliver to consumers.
 

Rendering is, in fact, a form of recycling—a process that converts inedible material from animal production that might otherwise go to waste and converts them into useful, high-quality ingredients. But what exactly is rendering, and how does it contribute to a more sustainable world? In this blog, we'll explore the key facts about rendering and why it's a process that we should all support and understand.
 

What is Rendering?

Rendering is a highly regulated and specialized process that involves converting animal by-products—such as meat scraps, bones, fats, and trimmings—into useful materials like meat and bone meal, fat, and protein meals. These ingredients are often used in pet food production, livestock feed, biofuels, oleochemicals and even fertilizers.
 

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Roughly 50% of an animal is considered inedible by Americans due to consumer preferences. While these animal by-products are typically viewed as waste by many, rendering transforms them into essential ingredients that support animal nutrition, health, and welfare. It's a process that reduces the environmental footprint of animal agriculture by preventing waste and lowering emissions. Rendering is truly recycling in its purest form, as it takes materials that would otherwise be discarded and gives them a second life.

The Environmental Benefits of Rendering

Rendering not only recycles valuable nutrients but also helps reduce the environmental impact of waste in the food supply chain. According to the North American Rendering Association (NARA), rendering is an efficient way to recover animal by-products and keep them from ending up in landfills, where they could contribute to methane emissions—a potent greenhouse gas.
 

By turning these by-products into valuable ingredients, rendering reduces the demand for new raw materials, conserves natural resources, and lowers energy consumption. Each year, renderers recycle and repurpose approximately 31.4 billion pounds of fat, oil, and protein products into nutritious pet food, biodiesel, and countless other useful items — making rendering one of the most sustainable ways to reduce food waste.

Facts About Rendering: A Deeper Look

Rendering is often underappreciated, so let's dive into a few key facts about the process and its many benefits, many of which are supported by NARA:
 

• Rendering reduces waste: By recycling animal by-products, rendering prevents them from entering landfills, thus reducing the overall waste burden on the environment. These by-products can come from food processing plants, slaughterhouses, and even restaurants and grocery stores, all of which contribute to the massive amounts of inedible waste with the potential to be upcycled into valuable sources of fats and proteins.
   
• Rendering is safe and regulated: The rendering industry is highly regulated by government agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This ensures that rendered products meet strict safety standards and are safe to use in pet food, livestock feed, and other products.
   
• Rendering is a key ingredient supplier for pet food: Many pet food ingredients—such as meat and bone meal, poultry by-product meal, and a variety of animal fats—are the result of the rendering process. These high-quality ingredients provide essential nutrients that keep pets healthy and nourished.
   
• Rendering supports sustainability: The rendering process is an integral part of the sustainability of animal agriculture. By converting waste into useful products, rendering helps reduce the need for additional natural resources, conserving water, land, and energy.
   
• Rendering helps reduce carbon footprint: The rendering industry is a significant player in reducing the carbon footprint of food production by ensuring that food and animal agriculture waste is converted into usable products rather than releasing harmful gases like methane into the atmosphere.
   

For more detailed facts on rendering and its importance to sustainability, we encourage you to visit NARA's Facts about Rendering page. The organization provides a wealth of information on the many ways rendering contributes to reducing waste and supporting sustainable practices in the pet food and agriculture industries.

The Role of Kemin Nutrisurance in Rendering

At Kemin Nutrisurance, we provide innovative solutions to support the rendering industry. Our products help renderers preserve the quality and freshness of their ingredients, ensuring that the pet food and other animal feed products made from rendered materials are safe and nutritious. Through a combination of antioxidants, antimicrobials, and preservatives, we help prevent the rancidity and spoilage of rendered products, which not only extends shelf life but also maintains the quality, safety and efficacy of these ingredients.
 

We are proud to partner with industry leaders, such as those at NARA, to continue driving innovation in the rendering process and to improve the sustainability of the pet food industry as a whole. Together, we're working to promote the many environmental benefits of rendering, making it clear that rendering is not only recycling—it's a crucial step in building a sustainable future.

Why Rendering Matters

Rendering is an essential and sustainable practice that serves multiple purposes: it recycles waste, supports the pet food industry, conserves resources, and reduces our environmental footprint. At Kemin Nutrisurance, we are proud to support renderers with products designed to keep rendered ingredients fresh, safe, and high-quality, ultimately helping the pet food industry thrive in a sustainable and responsible way.
 

Rendering is recycling in its truest form, and it's a process that we should all recognize and support. By continuing to work with industry leaders like NARA and pushing the boundaries of innovation, Kemin Nutrisurance is committed to promoting the environmental, economic, and nutritional benefits of rendering for a sustainable future.
 

For more information on how Kemin Nutrisurance is helping renderers improve product safety and freshness, visit our solutions for rendering page.
 

Together, let's support the circular economy and keep moving toward a more sustainable future.


About the author
Jim has been at Kemin for over 30 years fulfilling a variety of roles in quality control, research and development, and technical services. 


By Jim Mann, Global Platform Manager: Antioxidants & Food Safety | Kemin Nutrisurance
Source: Kemin Nutrisurance