There is a term or being a good person and that term is: food processing plant grease trap prevention. The hype of environmental awareness is now permeating every imaginable industry. Even governments mandate the use of green technology in their projects and programs. It’s salubrious to encourage the green vibe because there is only one planet Earth to save. Everyone should chip in. But even if everyone engages in saving the environment, there are still environmental issues to worry about. One of the problems at hand is the FOG (fats, oils, grease) crisis.
FOG overflow is a huge environmental problem. The majority of the FOG that enters the sewers comes from food establishments and food processing plants. Processed food still rules groceries and supermarkets because of the inherent convenience. These food items are exacerbate the already-present FOG issue at hand. Their chemical and physical compositions are altered in the increasing desire for cheap, abundant foodstuffs. Processed foods as such have more complex chemical structures and, for a number of complicated reasons, they take much longer to break down.
While they provide such plentiful processed foods, food processing plants should always adhere to sanitation regulations, especially the grease or pretreatment ordinance. The United States is undergoing the FOG crisis and one of the culprits is the food processing industry. In order to keep this from worsening, the grease trap ordinance mandates these plants have grease traps installed. They could combine passive and active technologies that have grease interceptors, grease recovery devices, underground grease traps, and a grease recovery device.
The grease ordinance states that the owners of the food processing plants make sure that their grease trap has a permit so the City Sewer Department can easily inspect it. With that permit, there will be a log made for that particular grease trap that includes the owner’s name and address, and also the number issued. The removal and dumping of the collected FOG and solid materials should be done only by a licensed hauler. It is prohibited for the food processing plant to release liquids above 130 degrees Fahrenheit. The ordinance also enforces that the grease trap should be designed and built according to the plant’s conditions and the load that’s anticipated. The grease trap should also have a control for the flow rate of the incoming wastewater.
Food processing plant grease trap overflow prevention should be well implemented to prevent contamination and worsening of the FOG crisis. It’s not only the plant that gets affected. Consumers may become at high risk of contracting various health conditions if untreated effluent gets into the food that they eat. Food processing plants should really make sure that they keep contaminants at bay because once their brand is tainted, they will be forever marked.
The use of chemicals and enzymes in food processing plant grease trap overflow prevention should not be encouraged. These substances only make things worse by emulsifying the FOG and allowing it to combine with the wastewater that flows through the sewer lines. The FOG accumulates and sticks to the pipe walls, blocking the normal flow of the wastewater. This results in wastewater backups into the food processing plant facilities and surrounding premises. Chemicals and enzymes just make problems much worse for the owners of food processing plants because their lawsuits and fines continue to escalate.
Bacteria are the most effective additives for use in food processing plant grease trap prevention. They are recommended by most states because they eliminate the foul smells in the grease trap and they don’t contaminate the environment. Bioremediation makes use of non-pathogenic bacteria to transform FOG and solid wastes into less harmful substances. Bioaugmentation makes use of selected strains of bacteria to break down the FOG and other potential contaminants.
With the use of primitive but ever-present bacteria in food processing plant grease trap overflow prevention, food processing plants could slowly be removed from the list of major contributors to the FOG crisis.
