To remove a salt content, to suppress carbon dioxide, to prevent dioxin generation, to remove a fat and oil content, and to prevent adverse effects of an odor, saprophytes and the like in the groundwater system due to sewage on a health and living environment, in recycling food residues, and also to provide a method that rapidly processes a large amount of food residues generated.

In a food residue superheated steam dryer, an inner basket 23 charged with food residues is inserted into a closable drum shell 1 by an inserter/puller 26 of an inner basket receiving carriage 24. After a door 9 is closed, as the inner basket 23 is rotated on a hollow driveshaft 7, external excess waste steam is emitted direct on the food residues for production via a superheated steam inlet pipe 4, the hollow driveshaft 7, and a superheated steam outlet pipe 39 on the inner basket 23. On completion, the superheated steam emission is stopped, and a steam ejector 20 and the like establish decompression and drying. After the drying, produced food residues are taken out by the inserter/puller 26 of the inner basket receiving carriage.