Startup turns leftover carrots into crackers
Consider the processing of carrot juice as a great chance for upcycling. As much as 80% of the processed weight is pulp leftover, a waste product that is frequently turned into compost, according to Beth Kennedy, co-founder of Seconds and current CEO of the New York-based company that makes crackers out of the leftover pulp.
Having spent almost two years working as a buyer for Target Corp., Ms. Kennedy has worked in the food industry for almost 20 years. During her visits to processing facilities, she witnessed the quantity of food waste that was present. She was impressed by the efforts made by the facility staff to find new uses for the food byproducts, such creating new goods or giving to the community.
“Seeing that and understanding the focus and attention that people working there had on reducing waste was really one of the big drivers in why I thought there was such a big opportunity to develop partnerships to reimagine that into new products,” Ms. Kennedy said.
In 2019, 35% of all food in the United States went unsold or uneaten, according to ReFED, a national nonprofit working to end food loss and waste across the US food system. That amount, a total of $408 billion worth of wasted food, accounted for 4% of total US greenhouse gas emissions. Upcycling products prevents food waste by finding new products out of surplus food, according to the Upcycled Food Association, which coordinates with hundreds of companies around the world.
Through the group, Ms. Kennedy got to know Philip Crouse, who has been in business since he was a college student and used to rent out bicycles to other students. He was working on a project that involved using juice pulp and trash to make crackers. In 2019, they established Seconds together.
There are three types of the crackers: original crunch, chipotle ranch crunch, and everything crunch. Each serving of thirteen crackers has five grams of fiber and four grams of protein.
Regarding the repurposed carrot components, Ms. Kennedy remarked, “the flavor is actually pretty mild.” That provides a solid foundation for creating different kinds of crackers. Our crackers come in a variety of tastes. Carrots are also a friendly vegetable. They are a really popular and well-known vegetable that is highly approachable.
The first item listed is tapioca flour. Flax, chia, sunflower, black sesame, white sesame, and poppy seeds are among the seeds included in the crackers. Flavor is added with chopped garlic, minced roasted onion, sea salt, and ground turmeric.
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In order to include recycled oat milk in the crackers, Seconds collaborated with the upcycled food company Renewal Mill last year.
“We were able to enhance the amount of recycled ingredients in our product and achieve the ideal crunch thanks to the addition of that recycled oat milk flour,” Ms. Kennedy stated.
Seconds crackers may be found online at the company website and on Bubble Goods. In New York City, they are sold in about 25 specialty ingredients stores, including Murray’s Cheese, and recently began selling at 25 Juice Press stores.
Seconds in the future may incorporate other upcycled vegetables into the crackers.
“What we’re trying to do is build this brand that features upcycled ingredients as the heroes,” Ms. Kennedy said. “We started with carrots, and now we have oat milk flour. As many upcycled ingredients that we can bring in is what we want to do.”