A US$405,000 grant through Ontario, Canada's Rural Economic Development program will allow a petfood ingredient supplier to turn egg "waste" into high-protein petfood products, The Beacon Herald reported.

Perth County Ingredients, a subsidiary of Vanderpol's Eggs, began producing petfood ingredients at the plant, previously used for egg processing, in May 2011. The plant currently employs nine people and the company uses only about half of the factory space, so it has plenty of room for expansion, according to plant manager, Murray Walz.

Walz explained that the company processes whole-egg waste from egg-grading plants and turns it into a powdered petfood ingredient, which contains up to 50% protein. He said the plant also extracts egg whites from discarded shells, which the company uses to produce a liquid egg white that acts as a binding agent in petfood.