Human and animal foods such as steamed rice, wheat meal,
fishmeal, meat and soy meals, and lard were mixed to make thesynthetic food waste with a desired composition of carbohydrate,
protein and fat that reflects the foods consumed by the Taiwanese
people. The uniformity of a synthetic food waste made this way offered
a distinct advantage over restaurant or cafeteria waste in
controlling the variability of substrate characteristics (Schwab
et al., 1994). Rice and lard were bought from the local grocery
store. Wheat meal, fishmeal, meat and soy meals were provided
by the Dachan Great Wall Enterprise Company, Tainan, Taiwan.
Rice husk, sawdust and rice bran were mixed with synthetic
food waste to adjust the moisture content and the C/N ratio, and
to maintain air spaces. Physical and chemical properties of raw
materials used to make synthetic food waste and bulking agents
were presented in Table 1.