This photo provided by BGF Retail Co. shows assorted feed for mealworms.
SEOUL, March 24 (Korea Bizwire) — BGF Retail Co., the operator of CU convenience stores, said Thursday it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with domestic start-up KEIL to convert near-expired food items into feed for mealworms.
Under terms of the MOU, BGF Retail will provide the near-expired food items waiting for disposal at its logistics center for use as feed for mealworms.
After sorting the near-expired food items at the logistics center, BGF will deliver them to KEIL which will then reprocess them to make assorted feed.
BGF Retail will provide near-expired processed foods such as ramen, snack, beverage and alcoholic drinks, which account for about 80 percent of convenience store items.
KEIL is engaged in the development of organic fertilizers and feed for livestock and fisheries by extracting functional ingredients such as protein, unsaturated fatty acids, and omega-3 fatty acids from mealworms.
BGF Retail plans to deliver about 11 tons of near-expired food items to KEIL by next month.
The company said that every one-ton reduction in the disposal of food items can reduce carbon emissions by about 0.97 tons.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
