This beer is fighting the massive issue of food waste

Food waste that ends up in landfills creates methane that represents eight percent of global greenhouse gases, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. And that is only one of the many things that can be done in the future, and that it is also used in the production, farming, and transportation sectors that are used to produce it.

But what is to be done about the mbadive problem of food waste?

Simple: make beer.

On Oct. 24, Common Good Beer Co. in Scarborough and Second Harvest announced it will be produced at the LCBO in early November.

A Slice is a limited-edition beer made from food waste in the form of bread from Prairie Boy bakery. Profits from the beer will go to Second Harvest, said CEO Lori Nikkel.

"Bread is inexpensive to make, but we overproduce it," explained Nikkel. She cited the example of the grocery store. Consumers tend to pbad over if they see it as it is, so store respond by presenting a bounty of food. The result is food waste.

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Globally, if food waste could be represented as its own country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter, behind China and the U.S., according to climatecentral.org.

Second Harvest has more than 127 million pounds of edible food bound for landfills since it was established in 1985, according to a press release from the event.

And while a limited-edition beer can hardly make a dent in the amount of food, it's about bringing awareness to the issue, said Common Good Owner and Brewmaster Jamie Mistry.

So how do you turn stale bread into beer?

It was not simple, according to Mistry.

"It was challenging at first because it can be thick and viscose," Mistry said. They developed the recipe by making 80 liter batches, with different types of beer, eventually settling on sourdough.

The result is an ale with body and mouth feel, a result of using bread in the brewing process.

Serena Willoughby is a deputy editor based in Toronto. She is also a contributor to the Star's Life section. Follow her on Twitter: @serwilloughby