The latest brand joining the upcycled food movement is, which provides water-saving tortilla chips to consumers.
Every bag of Kazoo Tortilla Chips is made using 40% upcycled corn germ, repurposed from the Nation’s massive corn starch industry which produces germ as a by-product.
Reclaiming and upcycling reduces Kazoo’s water footprint by at least 20 gallons of water per bag.
Traditional tortilla chip companies typically use 100% virgin growth corn. However, Kazoo Snacks is working to ensure all that’s harvested for food, ends up feeding people.
Using corn primarily harvested from generational farms in Iowa, Kazoo Snacks’ proprietary manufacturing process allows it to reclaim and upcycle corn germ that would have otherwise gone to animal feed. Doing so, enables the company to get more out of each corn harvest, which saves water.
Company Founder, Joshua Death, explains: “Kazoo Snacks exists to provide consumers with great tasting snacks, that also save water. In 2020 alone, the U.S. consumed one million tons of tortilla chips. It currently takes 180 billion gallons of water to grow enough corn to meet this demand—with not a single drop of water spared. That’s a whole lot of corn, and even more water! The Kazoo approach would save 57 billion gallons of US freshwater per year.”
For this reason, Kazoo Snacks is on a mission to conserve one billion gallons of fresh water by 2025.
