# OK, so what of this is waste? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2001, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158 "2001-08-06T19:18:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MAXIMUMSTRENT1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@MAXIMUMSTRENT1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MAXIMUMSTRENT1)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/1 "2001-08-06T19:18:40Z")
Lets pretend we have this big, omni factory that makes things from food to shoes from a cow. Feed one in one side, products come out of the other, but what comes out of the waste slot? ---
**Author:** ![Jargent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@Jargent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jargent)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/2 "2001-08-06T19:36:28Z")
I think we’d need a bit more detail in your question, but the simple answer is that the waste is anything that wasn’t used to make the products. View the factory as your body. You put a cow in (or preferably just part of the cow), your body processes whatever it can from it (fat, protein, etc.) and passes the excess along to Das Doomper. Same thing in the OmniFactory, but the body’s “product” is energy/calories that do things like “sustain life” or “enable breeding”. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/3 "2001-08-06T20:19:02Z")
Well, lessee. Cow’s hide: shoes and other leather products. Flesh: Meat, from steaks for people to canned food for pets. Horns, bones, hooves, teeth: Glue. Hooves/ears: Chew toys for dogs. Blood: Don’t know. Innards: Often added to animal feed. For people, Asian dishes like la paz batchoy use them: noodles, beef broth, fried garlic, green onion and cow innards. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/4 "2001-08-06T20:37:37Z")
Blood: [http://anesthesiology.about.com/library/weekly/aa052801a.htm](http://anesthesiology.about.com/library/weekly/aa052801a.htm) There may be additional medical and tissue culture uses as well. -Beeblebrox * * * “In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” ---
**Author:** ![bashere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@bashere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bashere)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/5 "2001-08-06T21:16:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Blood: Don’t know. Fertilizer. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/6 "2001-08-06T21:39:17Z")
Not much. My lawyer once worked for a beef processor. He said that the goal was to get “everything but the moo.” They even washed down the floor into a centrifuge to try to get wasted protein for some (hopefully non-human-consumption-related) purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Shiva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@Shiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shiva)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/7 "2001-08-06T23:38:07Z")
As was mentioned earlier… [Everything but the moo](http://www.cs.umd.edu/projects/fsrac/procs/rendering.html). ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2001, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/8 "2001-08-06T23:38:56Z")
[Here you go.](http://www.discover.com/aug_01/featcow.html) Everything you could want to know and more. ---
**Author:** ![RoboDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbe5ce/32.png) [@RoboDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoboDude)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/9 "2001-08-07T03:26:18Z")
Where do the penises go? ---
**Author:** ![Gunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gunslinger)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/10 "2001-08-07T05:01:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RoboDude \* > \*\*Where do the penises go? \*\* They make canes and golf putter handles out of 'em. Really. I can’t find 'em online, but I’ve seen them for sale in catalogs. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/11 "2001-08-07T06:45:05Z")
cows have penises? what country are we speaking of? ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/12 "2001-08-07T11:08:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\*cows have penises? what country are we speaking of? \*\* This must be on the Greek island of Hermaphros! ---
**Author:** ![MAXIMUMSTRENT1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@MAXIMUMSTRENT1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MAXIMUMSTRENT1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2001, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-what-of-this-is-waste/75158/13 "2001-08-07T13:57:59Z")
> [@](#): > > cows have penises? what country are we speaking of? They heard me two houses down, laughing over that. 😃