Restaurant post-consumer food waste as a dietary ingredient for Nile tilapia: growth and proximate composition

Abstract

ABSTRACT Food waste (FW) is an inexpensive and nutritious ingredient that could be used to replace traditional aquafeed commodities. The present work assessed the effect of incorporating food waste in Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, diets on growth and proximate composition of fish. Post-consumer food waste was collected from Lebanese restaurants and used to prepare five diets (0%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% FW), then offered to Nile tilapia juveniles (ca 11.3 g) for 8 weeks. At harvest, growth, hematological parameters and proximate composition of tilapia were assessed. Results of the present work showed that food waste could be incorporated at up to 20% in Nile tilapia diets, improving growth without affecting hematology or proximate composition of fish. Lebanese food waste is an acceptable ingredient that could be used to replace traditional feed ingredients in Nile tilapia diets, thus decreasing aquafeed prices and minimizing the environmental effects of FW.