Leftover Kellogg’s cereal to be used to make craft beer in Catalan brewery

The Tarragona brewery, Rosita, has launched a new craft beer using the leftover cereal from the Kellogg’s factory located in the nearby town of Valls. The final product is the result of an objective to reduce food waste and create an intriguing and tasty new beverage. 

The agreement between the breakfast makers and beer brewers sees Kellogg’s send surplus supplies of their popular Choco Krispies cereal, also known as Coco Pops, to the La Gardènia brewery in Alcover to make the new drink. 

Kelloggs’ aim is to achieve a 50% reduction of food waste before 2030, according to sources of the company. The leftovers they are sending to be turned into beer are fit for human consumption but cannot be sold due to variants of weight compared to what is indicated on the label, or for damage to the packaging.

"It is inevitable that during the production process a certain amount of product is discarded, our goal is to minimize this waste and, whenever possible, to reuse it for human consumption," says Amparo Lobato, head of Corporate Affairs at Kellogg’s in Spain.

It is about "giving a second life to foods with a craft beer made in a sustainable way," Lobato points out, noting that cereals are left over from the production process, but that they are in perfect condition.

The rice produced by Kellogg comes from the Ebro Delta and is processed at the factory located in the industrial estate of Valls. In the neighboring municipality, Alcover, there is the La Gardènia brewery, specialized in the production of artisanal beer produced in a sustainable way.

Given that rice is perfectly suited to combining with malt, a fundamental basis for brewing beer, Kellogg’s proposed giving the spare chocolate toasted rice to the brewery, and tests for the perfect recipe have gone on for almost a year.

"Using Choco Krispies in the making of a beer has been a fun challenge, which we feel very proud of because we are collaborating with a sustainable project that contributes to the zero waste objective," says Pep Pérez, a cofounder of the brewery.