Tara McHugh has created multiple products to recover that waste and turn it into something valuable.
Tara McHugh, center director for USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Washington, D.C., investigated ways to take food processing waste and turn it into value-added products, such as fruit bars, vegetable crisps and even edible films made from produce.
“A good deal of waste is generated in the [food processing] stage,” says McHugh. “That’s one of the reasons it’s important to conduct this research.”