Currently spent yeast has a low value and is used as a protein supplement in animal feed (Barriga et al., 1999). The brewing industry is a ready bulk source of ‘‘spend yeast’’ which could be used to digest food waste at minimal cost. In using yeast to break down food wastes the incubation can be run at higher temperatures than used in brewing to maximize the digestion rate because the ‘‘flavor’’ of the product is not relevant in the case of using yeast to break down food waste (Fleet et al., 2009).There are several additional reasons why yeast was selected for the study. Yeast is completely sequenced (KEGG, 2013). It can be genetically transformed allowing for either the addition of new genes or deletion through homologousre combination. A complete set of yeasts with single knockout mutations is available. The major advantage of yeast remains, however, its ease of cultivation and ready availability. Many different strains are available and standard procedures could be used to select a strain most suitable for anaerobic breakdown of food waste.