Upvege, Which Powders Off-Spec Vegetables, Points to a New Trend in Upcycling

In October 2025, Green Ace Co., Ltd. officially launched the upcycled-food brand "upvege." Using proprietary powdering technology, it's an effort to convert "unused vegetables" — which didn't reach the market because their shape or size didn't meet standards — into high-value-added products while keeping their color, aroma, and nutrition intact. A business model that uses off-spec goods as raw material rather than discarding them is drawing attention as a move that answers the food industry's challenge of balancing food-waste reduction with SDGs compliance.

The reality of 2 million tons of "unused vegetables" discarded annually

MAFF estimates put the discard volume at the agricultural production stage at about 2 million tons annually. Much of that is discarded for being "off-spec" — bent, too small, or blemished. Despite the taste and nutritional value being almost unchanged, a huge volume of vegetables is rejected from the market on the basis of appearance standards.

The relationship between non-standard vegetables and food loss | Solutions and case studiesAs detailed in

, a promising solution to this problem is "raw-material conversion through drying and powdering." Once turned into powder, shape ceases to matter at all — if anything, it becomes easier to secure uniform quality.

The potential of the powdering business shown by upvege

The nutritional value and benefits of vegetable powder? Shelf life and health effects thoroughly explainedThe powdering process that "upvege" adopts uses low-temperature drying technology to minimize the loss of nutrients from heat. Its products are developed as vegetable-smoothie ingredients, seasoning ingredients, and functional-food ingredients, and are said to draw strong inquiries as OEM ingredients that appeal to SDGs compliance.

Also,Food OEM Market Trends 2026: A Growth Strategy Seen Through Small-Lot and Domestic-Ingredient NeedsAs noted in

, vegetable powder's strengths are long-term room-temperature storage, ease of measurement, and ease of mixing into foods. Even when off-spec goods are used as raw material, the final product can be finished to a quality on par with standard goods.

As shown by

• , a commitment to domestically grown ingredients and demand for small-lot support are rising at the same time. Powder made from off-spec vegetables has strong appeal to buyers as a product that checks three boxes at once: "domestically grown," "sustainable," and "zero waste."
• How to apply upcycling to OEM product development
• When a food manufacturer or a supermarket's PB product manager thinks "we want to use upcycled ingredients," consulting an OEM manufacturer is the shortest route. What matters are these three points.

Being able to disclose the raw material's origin (growing region, farm)Having a processing setup that accepts off-spec goods

Being able to meet the final product's quality standards at the same level as standard goods

As explained inThe foods Gen Z chooses. An era when environmental consideration becomes brand strength, the consumer behavior of "choosing the sustainable product" when the price is the same is no longer a partial trend but is becoming the mainstream.

Powdering and commercializing off-spec vegetables is both an answer to the social challenge of reducing food waste and a management strategy that raises brand value. The arrival of "upvege" is one example showing that this kind of business model is beginning to take root in the food industry.

(Reference:Green Ace Co., Ltd., "New life for unused vegetables. The upcycled-food brand 'upvege' is born," PR TIMES, October 2025）