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Former food products (FFPs) are alternative feed ingredients used in livestock diets. Although the processes of transforming FFPs into animal feed often include mechanical unpacking and grinding, the final products may still be prone to packaging contamination. Common materials of packaging remnants found in FFPs are aluminium, cellulose, and plastic. Therefore, it is important to investigate and to provide information regarding the size and shape attributes of these materials to improve processing techniques in the feed industry. A total of 441 packaging remnants from 17 sources of FFPs were included in this study. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy coupled with an optical microscope was used to identify the material of the packaging remnants, which resulted in a categorisation of remnants consisting of 44 aluminium, 308 cellulose, and 89 plastic remnants. The categorised remnants were observed with a stereomicroscope and were subsequently measured by a digital camera and image analysis software. Each measurement contains 21 size attributes and 9 shape attributes, some of which were derived from calculations. The distribution of values for both size and shape attributes overlapped between the three materials though aluminium remnants were on average smaller (p <.05) in size and more regular (p <.05) in shape compared to cellulose and plastic ones. Also, aluminium remnants showed a narrower range in most of the size and shape attributes. Through the information provided by the image analysis and the measurements, it was concluded that the obtained values in size and shape attributes had broadly spread distributions that overlapped for different materials. HIGHLIGHTS: Former food products are slightly contaminated with packaging remnants. Aluminium, cellulose, and plastic are packaging materials commonly detected as remnants in former food products. Aluminium remnants were on average smaller and more regular in shape whereas cellulose remnants were likely to have irregular edges and stellular shapes. The obtained values in size and shape attributes of FFP packaging remnants had broadly spread distributions overlapping for different materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock production is facing the feed-food competition, use of natural resources, and environmental sustainability. To address these issues, the use of food leftovers in animal nutrition could satisfy the principles of circular economy. Among the different food leftovers, former food products (FFPs) consist mainly of unsold/defective food from industrial production (i.e., bread, croissants, biscuits, chips). FFPs can be classified in sugary confectionary FFPs (FFPs-C) and salty bakery FFPs (FFPs-B). The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the inclusion of FFPs into post-weaning diet of piglets on the fatty acid profile of subcutaneous adipose tissue and on serum metabolites. Thirty-six post-weaning female piglets (Large White × Landrace, BW 8.52 ± 1.73 kg) were assigned to a standard diet (CTR), or with a 30% replacement (wt/wt) of conventional cereals with FFPs-C or FFPs-B for 42 days. Growth performance and feeding behavior were measured. Subcutaneous abdominal fat samples were collected from 12 selected piglets after slaughtering. Gas chromatography was performed on feed samples from control diet and experimental diets and on adipose tissue samples. Untargeted metabolomics was performed on blood samples (d 0 and d 42) using UHPLC/MS-MS. Data were analyzed with the software MetaboAnalyst (version 5.0). The inclusion of FFPs did not alter growth performance or feeding behavior. The CTR diet had greater PUFA concentrations than FFPs diets. In FFPs diets, the fatty acid profile was equally distributed among SFA, MUFA, and PUFA. The ω-6/ω-3 ratio was greater in FFPs-C diets than CTR and FFPs-B diets. The subcutaneous adipose tissue showed no differences between groups for SFA concentrations. The MUFA concentrations were reduced in CTR compared with FFPs groups, whereas PUFA concentrations were reduced in FFPs-C group compared with FFPs-B and CTR groups. The ω-6/ω-3 ratio was less in FFPs-C group compared with CTR and FFPs-B groups. The untargeted metabolomics identified a total of 104 metabolites, with 2 significantly different between groups. Specifically, the serum concentration of theobromine and caffeine was greater in FFPs groups compared with CTR. To conclude, piglets were able to rebalance the fatty acids profile despite the differences observed in the diets. The metabolic status was not strongly altered by the inclusion of 30% FFPs in the diet. Thus, FFPs could be safely applied in postweaning pig diets. Further studies are needed to assess the effect of FFPs on pig physiology and metabolic status in growing phase pigs and for a longer feeding time. (funded by ASSO Project-Regione Lombardia). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]