In animal agriculture, feed accounts for roughly 60–70% of total production costs — a major driver pushing today’s livestock farmers to find smarter ways to manage overhead. One emerging opportunity connects affordable feed ingredients with the consumer food industry’s growing focus on reducing production waste.
Take ice cream, for example. Pigs (like people) love it. While dairy by-products have long been repurposed for livestock feed, recovering ice cream waste is a true game changer with benefits for both CPGs and farmers. Transforming the frozen dessert waste into nutritious animal feed ingredients closes the loop between affordable feed and sustainable waste management.
By repurposing with purpose, Green Field Solutions diverts billions of pounds of discarded food from landfills and turns it into high-quality feed ingredients. From people and their pets to pigs and other animals, GFS is helping farmers feed their animals more affordability and more sustainably. At the forefront of today’s most innovative food and feed discoveries are the animal nutritionists and food scientists at Green Field Solutions and International Ingredients Corporation.
In this edition of Q&A With a Scientist, our Vice President of Nutrition & Product Development, Jason Frank, Ph.D., talks people, pigs and provender.
What inspired you to study animal nutrition?
I grew up in a city with no agricultural background. When I enrolled in college, I had two areas of interest: engineering and veterinary medicine. I started studying engineering, but didn’t enjoy the course work. After changing my major to animal science, I found that the more I learned, the more I wanted to learn!
I completed my bachelor’s (Purdue University) in animal science, and my master’s (Purdue) and Ph.D. (University of Missouri) in swine nutrition and immunology. Then, as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the USDA/Agricultural Research Services in the Children’s Nutrition Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine, I studied the nutrient physiology of muscle protein synthesis in neonatal pigs as a model for human infant nutrition.
Learn more about sustainability and feeding the world.
What goes into developing new products and affordable feed ingredients?
It is with great sophistication and innovation that we feed the animals that feed us. When we look at ingredients and nutrients, we look deeper than the proteins, analyzing amino acids, specific fibers and carbohydrates. We monitor 4,000-5,000 data points to assure every ingredient contains the right nutrient composition for its consumer.
Meat and dairy products provide protein and the amino acid building blocks used to build muscle. However, these products also are good sources of energy, vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. Just as it is for humans, dairy is an excellent source of protein and fat for young pigs and calves. Dairy-based ingredients remain the gold standard for young mammals because dairy proteins and fats are highly digestible. Better digestibility means higher nutritional value.
As the VP of Nutrition & Product Development, I work with the nutrition and product development team, and am responsible for the technical aspects related to our ingredients. This includes new product development, monitoring product quality and supporting our customers and sales team.
Learn more about circular feed systems.
What is the relationship between Green Field Solutions and International Ingredient Company?
As members of International Companies, both Green Field Solutions and International Ingredient Corporation manage and process food industry co-products, keeping valuable nutrients from going into a landfill by converting them to nutritious, affordable feed ingredients. The two function as extensions of one other. At IIC, our animal nutritionists have the expertise across a range of animal species. GFS understands the consumer food industries, and is able to identify co-products, while IIC’s technical team identifies livestock species that can best use them in the feed.
The two also work together to source sustainable pet food ingredients. An estimated 600 million pounds of companion animal foods contain our pet food ingredients from sources like like cheese, bacon fat, yeast, sugars and dairy.
Jason Frank
Jason Frank, Ph.D., is the Vice President of Nutrition & Product Development at Green Field Solutions. He provides technical leadership and support in areas of product development, domestic and international sales, product registrations, and development of product literature. He joined International Ingredient Corporation in 2017, and he supports both IIC and GFS efforts.
