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The Food Processing Industry:

Improvement of Resource Efficiency and Environmental Performance

The food processing industry is very diverse. Major sectors include fruit and vegetables, dairy, meats and fish, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, oils, and packaged foods. The most common environmental concerns in the industry are water consumption and wastewater discharge, chemicals used in processing and cleaning, packaging reduction and disposal, and food scraps and refuse. Energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions are increasingly important issues as well.

There are a number of extensive guides to the food processing industry in general. Many have chapters on major sectors and are the first references that should be consulted when looking for information on a particular sector. Some of the sectors also have substantial guidance documents. There are many case studies for the industry. Primary solutions include process measurement and control, water conservation and dry cleaning, use of less hazardous chemicals, energy efficiency, and recycling of waste materials.

The table below lists solutions to reduce waste and pollution in food processing. Company environmental programs should demonstrate that these options have been considered thoroughly. Direct links to online guides to pollution prevention follow the table.

Solutions to Increase Efficiency and Reduce Waste in Food Processing Companies
Storage
  • Store dry materials, such as bags of salt or dye drums, off of the floor and away from liquids by placing catch pans beneath the material.
  • Plug floor drains in material storage areas.
  • Build curbs around storage areas to keep spills in and water out.
  • Remove water supplies from storage areas.
  • Use dry cleanup methods; provide brooms, vacuums, and absorbent.
Operations
  • Test incoming water supply for minerals or chemicals that negatively affect the process.
  • Provide suitable work areas, handling tools, and training to operators so they can avoid creating spills.
  • Provide recipes for each chemical treatment operation.
  • Provide measuring equipment, in addition to recipes, to operators.
  • Optimize chemistry; correct temperature can reduce the use of salt and dye.
  • One size does not fit all; use small volume equipment for small production runs.
  • Place spring loaded nozzles or timers on all water supplies to turn off when not used.
  • Select valve and piping material to minimize corrosion and leaks.
  • Avoid filling process equipment with water from unmetered hoses; place meters on water supplies feeding process equipment.
  • Use counter current or multi-stage rinsing to reduce water use.
Material Substitution
  • Substitute hazardous inks with less hazardous (vegetable oil or water based) inks.
  • Substitute developers with ones having less or no isopropyl alcohol.
  • Use all purpose solvents in place of solvents dedicated for particular uses.
  • Spot apply solvent rather than pouring.
  • Uses silverless processing plates to prevent silver halide contaminated fountain baths.
Recovery/ Reuse/ Recycle
  • Reuse wastewater from processes in other processes that do not require high quality water.

Source: Pollution Prevention Tips for Wet-Processing Textile Mills. Georgia Pollution Prevention Assistance Division.

http://www.dnr.state.ga.us/dnr/p2ad/pblcations/textile.html

 

Links

Technical Guides to Cleaner Production

Food Processing Tip Sheet #1 has a collection of generally useful ideas. http://es.epa.gov/new/business/sbdc/sbdc37.htm

A Pollution Prevention Guide for Food Processors is a fact sheet with general tips.

http://www.dnrec.state.de.us/del-proc.htm

Food Manufacturing/Processing Industry--Doing What it Takes to be WasteWi$e lists successful strategies for solid waste reduction.

http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/reduce/wstewise/id-food.htm

Food Industry Pollution Prevention and Waste Reduction is a fact sheet covering most related topics.

http://www.deq.state.mi.us/ead/pub/factsheet/foodind.pdf

Cleaning up the Food Industry is an article that reports a number of examples of successful pollution prevention in the industry and describes the general Cleaner Production approach.

http://www.geosp.uq.edu.au/emc/CP/cleanup.htm

Pollution Prevention Guidebooks: Food and Kindred Products is a short document that describes the types of pollution prevention solutions implemented by food processing companies in New Jersey.

http://www.njit.edu/njtap/isr20.htm

Introduction to cleaner production assessments with applications in the food processing industry describes several projects and their results, and has good graphics.

http://www.p2pays.org/ref/01/00435.pdf

Clean Technologies in U.S. Industries: Focus on Food Processing gives a brief overview of the US food processing industry with an emphasis on pollution prevention and clean technologies. Contact information for key food-based organizations and clean technologies/pollution prevention is provided. Food-processing environmental and health regualtions are also briefly described.
http://www.p2pays.org/ref/09/08853.htm

Emissions and Reduction of Greenhouse Gases from Agriculture and Food Manufacturing is an extensive paper with great illustrations that offers useful guidance for energy efficiency and reducing air pollution and greenhouse gases.

http://www.oit.doe.gov/agriculture/pdfs/greenhousegaspap.pdf

Multimedia Environmental Compliance Guide for Food Processors is a major guide to compliance with environmental regulations and includes a chapter on pollution prevention opportunities.

http://www.p2pays.org/ref/04/03335.htm/

The UK Envirowise Program offers these documents available on line, after registering for free:

http://www.envirowise.gov.uk/

  • Food & Drink Sector: Minimising Packaging
  • Food & Drink Sector: Cleaning
  • Reducing the Cost of Packaging in the Food and Drink Industry
  • Reducing the Cost of Cleaning in the Food and Drink Industry
  • Reducing Water and Effluent Costs in Breweries
  • How to Improve Packing Line Efficiency in the Food and Drink Industry
  • Reducing Water and Effluent Costs in Red Meat Abattoirs
  • Low-Cost Process Control in Food and Drink Processing
  • Reducing Water and Effluent Costs in Poultry Meat Processing
  • Reducing Waste for Profit in the Diary Industry

The following reports from the Food Manufacturing Coalition for Innovation and Technology Transfer provide a state-of-the-art review of technology needs and solutions. Each one describes technology challenges and provides an overview of alternative technologies.

      Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) And Nutrient Removal From Food Processing Wastewater
      http://foodsci.unl.edu/fmc/1bio-oxy.htm

      Extraction, Separation, and/or Reuse of Solid Wastes from Food Processing
      http://foodsci.unl.edu/fmc/2ext-sep.htm

      Removal and Management of Fats, Oils and Greases
      http://foodsci.unl.edu/fmc/3fat-oil.htm

      Odor Control of Food Processing Operations by Air Cleaning Technologies (Biofiltration)
      http://foodsci.unl.edu/fmc/4odors.htm

      Recycling Processes for Plastic Food Containers
      http://foodsci.unl.edu/fmc/6plastic.htm

      Wastewater Reduction and Recycling in Food Processing Operations
      http://foodsci.unl.edu/fmc/7wastewa.htm

      Process Cost Reduction Through Proactive Operations and Maintenance
      http://foodsci.unl.edu/fmc/8procred.htm

      Food Blanching Process Improvement
      http://foodsci.unl.edu/fmc/10blanch.htm

Industry Subsector Reports

Fact sheets from the UNEP Working Group on Cleaner Production in Food Processing cover these topics: General Improvement, Dairy Manufacturing, Fruit and Vegetable Processing, Seafood Processing, Breweries and Wine Manufacturers, Bakeries, and Meat Processing.

http://www.geosp.uq.edu.au/emc/CP/Intro.htm

The World Bank Pollution Prevention Abatement Handbook has several chapters on food sectors. Each provides an overview processes and environmental issues, general abatement methods, and benchmarks for resource use and emissions.

The Water Quality and Waste Management Initiative of North Carolina publishes a number of short articles and case studies on food processing:

      Reducing Water Use and Wastewater in Food Processing Plants: How One Company Cut Costs

      The BOD Diet Plan: Waste Management Tips for Breaded-Food Plant Employees

      Using Food Processing By-Products for Animal Feed

      Liquid Assets for Your Poultry Plant

      Liquid Assets for Your Dairy Plant

      Poultry Processors: You Can Reduce Waste Load and Cut Sewer Surcharges

      Preventing Pollution in Shrimp Processing

      Cut Waste to Reduce Surcharges for Your Dairy Plant

      Water and Wastewater Management in a Dairy Processing Plant

      Using COD to Measure Lost Product

      Wastewater Pretreatment in Dairy Plants: Does it Save Money?

      Liquid Assets for Your Bakery

      Cut Waste to Reduce Wastewater Surcharges for Your Bakery

      Dissolved Air Floatation Systems for Bakeries

http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/bae/programs/extension/publicat/wqwm/food.html

      Systems for Recycling Water in Poultry Processing

      Survey Shows That Poultry Processors Can Save Money by Conserving Water

      Systems for Recycling Water in Poultry Processing

      Water and Wastewater Management in a Dairy Processing Plant

http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/bae/programs/extension/publicat/wqwm/cd27/

Technical Pollution Prevention Guide for the Fruit and Vegetable Processing Industry in the Lower Fraser Basin is an extensive guide describing processes, reduction options and economics.

http://www.pyr.ec.gc.ca/ec/frap/pdf/9618.pdf

Technical Pollution Prevention Guide for the Dairy Processing Operations in the Lower Fraser Basin is an extensive guide describing processes, reduction options and economics.
http://www.p2pays.org/ref/04/03995.pdf

Sectoral Profile of the Dairy Industry is a major website from UNIDO covering processes, pollution and solutions.

http://www.unido.org/ssites/env/sectors/SID_dairy.html

Sectoral Profile of the Sugar Industry is a major website from UNIDO covering processes, pollution and solutions.

http://www.unido.org/ssites/env/sectors/SID_sugar.html

Guide for Best Management Practices for Process Water Management at Fish Processing Plants in British Columbia is an extensive guide describing processes, reduction options and economics.

http://www.pyr.ec.gc.ca/ec/frap/pdf/9420.pdf

Recovery of Animal Fats Reduces Wastewater Generation and Reduces Energy Costs is a short case study description

http://es.epa.gov/studies/cs279.html

Pollution Prevention in Small and Medium Fishmeal Plants describes in detail experiences with these companies in Peru.

http://www.cepis.org.pe/muwww/fulltext/epa/pcsi/pcsi.html

The BOD Diet Plan: Waste Management Tips for Breaded-Food Plant Employees contains tips on byproduct management to reduce water, chemical, and energy used to treat wastewater.
http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/bae/programs/extension/publicat/wqwm/cd36.html

Food Industry Pollution Prevention Case Studies

48 case studies compiled by the UNEP

http://www.emcentre.com/unepweb/tec_case/food_15/house/casename.shtml

The Envirosense Case Studies collection search engine finds 33 case studies available for "food".

http://es.epa.gov/cgi-bin/search.pl?studies=on

Australia’s environment program makes about 20 case studies available.

http://www.environment.gov.au/epg/environet/eecp/industry.html#3

The Country Bakery Story

http://www.geosp.uq.edu.au/emc/CP/Cbake.htm

Reducing Water Use and Wastewater in Food Processing Plants: How One Company Cut Costs

http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/bae/programs/extension/publicat/wqwm/cd35.html

Cleaner Production in a Czech Slaughterhouse

http://www.inem.org/htdocs/case_studies/masna-zlin.html

Pollution Prevention Assessment for a Soap Manufacturing and Oil Extraction Facility

http://earth2.epa.gov/ep3/ep3-cs8.html

 

Major Sites Devoted to the Food Processing Industry and the Environment

The UNEP Working Group for Cleaner Production in the Food Industry produces guides, case studies, research reports and conferences.

http://www.geosp.uq.edu.au/emc/CP/default.HTM

The UNEP group also has a subgroup on breweries

http://home2.swipnet.se/~w-25860/jacky/sgb/index.htm

The UNIDO Food Unit provides technical documents on food safety, hygiene and food processing technologies, and an information exchange forum. It also has directories of food technology and trade associations worldwide.

http://www.unido.org/doc/331275.htmls

Food Processing Industry Resources is a collection of abstracts about research projects on pollution prevention in the industry and includes several links to regulatory information and expert contacts.

http://www.pprc.org/pprc/sbap/food.html

Industry of the Future – Agriculture is a US government program that includes food processing and provides technical publications, networking information and a technology vision.

http://www.oit.doe.gov/agriculture/

Sustainable Agri-Food Production and Consumption Forum is a UN network of key information sources on agri-food production and consumption, related environmental impacts and practices to prevent or respond to these impacts.

http://www.agrifood-forum.net/home.asp

The Food Manufacturing Coalition for Innovation and Technology Transfer is a major program focused on resource efficiency and cleaner production that produces many reports.

http://foodsci.unl.edu/fmc/fmc-00.htm

The Green Plan for Food Service Industry presents a range of documents about many aspects, particularly restaurants.

http://www.p2pays.org/food/index.htm.

Don’t Throw Away That Food is a US EPA program for reduction and recycling of discarded food with many case studies and tips.

http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/reduce/food/food.htm

The Air-Conditioning & Refrigeration Technology Institute's Refrigerant Database is an information system on alternative refrigerants, associated lubricants, and their use in air-conditioning and refrigeration.

http://www.arti-21cr.org/db/

Food Environmental Weekly is an electronic newsletter published by the Food Industry Environmental Network. It has lots of news every week.

http://fien.com/

 

Food Processing Industry Associations

UNIDO publishes a directory of food associations around the world

National Food Processors Association is the national association representing the food processing and food service safety industry.

http://www.nfpa-food.org/

International Food and Agribusiness Management Association

http://www.ifama.org/

Institute of Food Technologists

http://www.ift.org/

Food Processing Machinery and Supplies Association

http://www.fpmsa.org/

National Meat Association

http://www.nmaonline.org/

 

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