The Food Processing Moonshot Starts with ‘Waste’

Waste is the Hidden Hunger – Better Processing not More Production Needed

In January 2025, Nobel and World Food Prize laureates issued a powerful open letter in The Guardian, calling for a “moonshot” transformation in how we produce and distribute food.  They warned that by 2050, the world could face catastrophic instability unless bold new approaches are embraced.

At Green Cell Technologies (GCT), we applaud this call. But we believe there’s a missing piece in the conversation – one that could unlock immediate, scalable change: food ‘waste’ utilisation.

The Paradox of Plenty

Every year, the world produces enough food to feed everyone. Yet hunger persists, not only in the Global South but in wealthy nations too.  In the United States, for example, thousands of people go to bed hungry every night.  Across Africa, Asia, and Europe, nutritional deficiency – not just calorie deficiency – remains widespread.

Meanwhile, staggering amounts of food are lost.  Perfectly edible crops are ploughed back into the soil. Unsold goods are discarded. Processing by-products are left to rot or are incinerated, releasing harmful emissions.  This is not a production problem.  It is a processing and utilisation problem.

A New Kind of Moonshot

The laureates have called for breakthroughs in photosynthesis, fertiliser use, and shelf-life extension.  These are worthy goals.  But what if we could go further – beyond yield and inputs – and instead, unlock the full value of the food we already produce?

This is where GCT’s Disruptor® and Dynamic Cellular Disruption (DCD®) technologies come in. By breaking down biological material to release 99.99998% of its cellular content, we can transform so-called “waste” into nutrient-dense, bioavailable products – for humans, animals, and even soil systems.

Think of it as human hydroponics – directly supplying the body and brain with optimised nutrition, derived from what is currently discarded.

From Surplus to Sustenance

Imagine a world where crop residues, processing offcuts, and even surplus harvests are not buried, burned, or wasted. Instead, they are reprocessed into high-value foods, supplements, and animal feed.  The same technology can also be applied to seaweed, fisheries by-products, and plant biomass – creating truly circular systems. Systems that truly nourish people while reducing environmental strain.

In this future, no person is food deficient, no animal is underfed, and no ecosystem is deprived of balance.

What we need is collaboration, not competition.  We don’t claim to have all the answers.  But we do believe we hold a vital key.  This is why we are reaching out to the laureates’ proposed task team and to the World Food Prize Foundation to offer partnership.

The hunger crisis cannot be solved by agriculture alone.  It requires rethinking processing, distribution, and utilisation.  Together, we can prove that the abundance already on Earth can be shared equitably, sustainably, and intelligently.

The laureates are right: incremental change will not be enough.  A moonshot is indeed needed.  We believe that Disruptor® and DCD® are the moonshot technologies the world has been waiting for.

Let’s work together to transform surplus into sustenance and ensure that hunger, in every form, becomes a relic of history.

Because the truth is simple: we do not lack food. We lack imagination in how we use it.

Roy Henderson, CEO, Green Cell technologies