Research Report of Industrial Wastewater Treatment (Meat Packing)

Posted: January 5th, 2023

Research Report of Industrial Wastewater Treatment (Meat Packing)

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Research Report of Industrial Wastewater Treatment (Meat Packing)

Introduction

Theoretical Background of the Problem

Although industries contribute significantly to the economic development of nations and wellbeing of societies and communities, they are also one of the largest polluters of the environment from the waste they produce. Industrial wastewater is one of the major single sources of water pollution across the world and threatens the supply of fresh water, which is essential for livelihoods and wellbeing of individuals and communities. It is estimated that polluted water caused over 1.8 million deaths alongside making scores of other people ill, thus draining economies of essential resources that have been directed towards the prevention and treatment of water-borne diseases and toxin-induced poisoning, and their subsequent fatalities (Mayor, 2017). Besides, unsafe water causes more fatalities annually than all forms of violence combined, including war (Denchak, 2018). Consequently, since many industries discharge their liquid effluents to water bodies that are often the source of freshwater, many governments have responded by having directives, regulations and legislation mandating that industries detoxify their wastewater before discharging it to the environment.

The meat packing industry is a heavy consumer of water and therefore, a significant source of toxic wastewater (Li et al., 2018). Meat packing factories are renowned for using fresh water to clean their meat products during processing and discharging the same to the environment where it endangers communities and their fresh water supplies, not to mention degrading the ecosystem.

Definition of Key Terms

Industrial Wastewater Treatment in the meat packing industry is associated with several terms that need to be understood. These terms are defined and described as follows:

TDML: total maximum daily load. It is the maximum amount of a pollutant that a water body (stream, river, lake) can receive without contravening water quality standards. The Clean Water Act of the United States defined this terminology while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) adopted it. It has been adopted by other jurisdictions and water quality agencies outside the United States. It is measured in kilograms per day (kg/day).

BOD: biochemical oxygen demand. It is the amount of oxygen dissolved in water that is need to breakdown organic materials therein by aerobic biological organisms at a specified temperature over a specified period. This parameter is used to assess the effectiveness of wastewater treatment in industrial plants. Its determination is based on Henry’s Law, which is used to determine oxygen solubility at saturation of the organic pollutants. It is measured in milligrams per liter (mg/L).

COD: Chemical oxygen demand. It is the amount of oxygen that can be consumed in the chemical oxidation of organic matter using strong oxidants, such as potassium dichromate. It is expressed in the mass of oxygen consumed over a specified volume of solution. It is measured in milligrams per liter (mg/L).

TOD: total organic carbon. It is the total amount of carbon in the organic substances found in water. It is used as an indication of the cleanliness of water. It is measured in milligrams per liter (mg/L).

TSS: Total suspended solids. It is a measure of the amount of solid particles suspended in a sample of water that are larger than 2 microns. It is measured in milligrams per liter (mg/L).

TDS: total dissolved solids. It is the amount of dissolved organic matter and inorganic dissolved substances found in a collected sample of water. Therefore, it represents the concentration of dissolved matter in a water sample. It is a parameter used to measure the fitness of a sample of water for human consumption. It is measured in parts per million (ppm). 

TP: Total phosphorus. It is the amount of all forms of phosphorus found in water effluents and water bodies to which the effluents discharge. It is measured in milligrams per liter (mg/L).

TN: Total nitrogen. It is the amount of all forms of nitrogen found in water effluents and water bodies to which the effluents discharge. It is measured in milligrams per liter (mg/L).

Acidity. It is the level of acidity of basicity of a water sample. It is measured as the concentration of the hydroxonium ions in water expressed in moles per liter. It stands for the power of hydrogen and is expressed in a scale that ranges from 0 to 14, qith 0 denoting the highest acidity, while 14, the lowest, and 7 as the neutral point.

Color. Color is a measure of the quality of water from an effluent or water body to which the effluent discharges. It is a physical characteristic measured to determine the transmittance of water, which indicated the amount of pollutants present in a water sample. The water color is analyzed by spectrophotometry that uses light at specified wavelengths. The findings from the water color analysis are gauged against a standard color scale, such as the American public health association cobalt platinum (APHA/Pt-Co) scale.

Turbidity. It is a measure of the amount of matter suspended in a sample of water and indicates its relative clarity. It is measured by determining the amount of light that is scattered by the materials in the water sample. The units of measurement for turbidity are nephelometric turbidity units (NTU)

Conductivity. Conductivity of water is a measure of how much electricity a water sample can conduct at 25 degrees Celsius and serves as an indicator of the amount of dissolved matter therein. The unit of measure is micromhos per centimeter (µmhos/cm).

Importance of the Research

This research is motivated by the limited information regarding the current state of industrial wastewater treatment in the meat packing industry, which continues to change and evolve dramatically. Industries and especially meat packing industries have continued to expand across the world, with meat packing technologies increasingly becoming automated, courtesy of the technological advancements and the application of smart solutions. Besides, meats continue to be a critical vector and conduit for infectious diseases and the quality of meat processing is under higher scrutiny to enhance public safety and prevent the outbreak of meat-related disease pandemics. Moreover, the meat processing and packing industry consumes huge amounts of fresh water making it compete for this valuable resource with other vital life-sustaining activities, such as human consumption and agricultural production. Therefore, understanding how the meat packing industry consumes and manages water, and particularly how it addresses the large amounts of wastewater it produces, is critical in promoting sustainable water use and management. Also, the focus on the meat processing industry has increased dramatically, especially after the outbreak of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, which has been allegedly associated with the wet markets in Wuhan, China, where numerous types of meats, including those from wild animals, are processed and sold to the public. Therefore, information on how the meat packing industry has adjusted in the wake of the global pandemic is critical in advancing water safety, especially the safety of the water that constitutes the effluents from the industry. Besides, the Canadian meat packing industry is the largest segment in the food manufacturing sector in the country (IBIS World, 2020). It consumes a quarter of all the water used the food and beverage industry in the country, thus making is a significant consumer of water and producer of wastewater (Bustillo-Lecompte et al., 2016). The market size of this industry in the country is $32 billion and meat processing and packing firms employ over 71,000 people, thus making the industry a significant contributor the Canadian economy. In this regard, it is critical that the meat packing industry continues to earn its social license to operate by being a minimal contributor to environmental degradation and a promoter of sustainable use of fresh water. Therefore, this study will help gauge the performance of the meat packing industry and firms as promoters of environmental protection and sustainable water use, and therefore, identify the areas where improvement is required.

Research Aim, Question and Objectives

This study aimed at characterizing the meat packing industry and its wastewater management. The primary question guiding this study is, how does the meat packing industry manage its wastewater? To answer this question, the following objectives were set:

1. To determine the current state of the meat packing industry in Canada
2. To describe the wastewater characterization in the meat packing industry
3. To outline the pollution prevention initiatives and activities undertaken by the meat packing industry players     

To answer this question, information drawn from the global meat packing industry and the industry in Canada, is critical and valuable.

Overview of the Meat Packing Industry

The meat packing industry is part of the agricultural sector because it deals with meats as part of agricultural produce. The industry deals with the processing and packaging of all types of meat for public consumption. The meats include beef, mutton, veal, porch, chicken, duck, turkey, and fish. The meats are sources from animals that are often reared in large scale and small scale farms, while the fish is sourced from water bodies, including rivers, lakes and the oceans. The final products are presented to the market as packaged fresh or frozen meats that are ready for human consumption, and therefore, are available at wholesale and retail outlets across the world. Some of these products may be consumed domestically in the country of production or exported to other countries. The meat packing industry is economically important because it supports other upstream industries such as animal feed production and downstream industries, like the fast food industry.

Meat processing involves several steps which are based on the source of meat and the nature of the final product of the intended packages. Therefore, the first step in meat packaging begins with sourcing of the various types of meat. Meat packers often source their meat from slaughtering their own animals or fishing their own fishes. In this respect, the meat packers will have slaughterhouse or fishery to supply the live animals for processing and packing. The major production processes involved in meat packing are summarized in figure 1.

Figure 1. The meat packing process

As indicated in the figure 1, the meat packing processes begins with sourcing the meat from slaughterhouses or farms. Some meat packers have their own slaughter houses, through which they obtain live animals and slaughter them in-house. Animal carcasses are washed, with those slaughtered in-house being de-haired, de-blooded, skinned and have the offals separated from the meat. The clean meat is then cut into different parts and wrapped for delivery to clients as fresh cuts. However, some meat packers add value to their meat by deboning, smoking, cooking, and mincing their meats, while others go further to make sausages. Some packers freeze their meat products for delivery to far-flung clients to ensure that the meat remains fresh. The washing process consumes a lot of water and is the source of the wastewater that the facilities discharge.  

Canada has a longstanding history of meat processing that dates back to the pre-industrial times of the 18^th century. The Canadian meat processing industry started being regulated in 1706 when the sale of meat became controlled by Superior Council of New France in southern Canada (MacLachan, 2015). The regulation required butchers to consult the Canadian colonial government before slaughtering an animal. By 1805, packing beef and pork products is southern Canada became regulated, which specified the barrel containers that meet was packed in, the size, weight and quality of various cuts of meat, and the levels and types of preservatives that could be used in meat processing (MacLachan, 2015).

Canada has over 1,000 meat packers to service the high demand for meat, which is part of the staples in Canadian meals (IBIS World (2020). Cargill Proteins is a large meat processor in Canada that is a subsidiary of the American-based Cargill, Incorporated. The company specializes in beef processing and packing and serves the domestic and international markets. The company has 2 beef processing facilities in Canada; one located in Guelph, Ontario and another in High River, Alberta. Therefore, these facilities are regulated by the Canada Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), which is a federal agency that operates across all Canadian provinces and territories, and therefore, are expected to adhere to the highest standards of food integrity, safety, and quality, animal health and safety, employee safety, and corporate responsibility. These facilities focus on beef processing and packing, with the Alberta plant being capable of processing 4,500 cows daily, while the Ontario plant processes 1,500 cows daily and is the only large facility that processes 100% Halal quality beef products. Cargill proteins, through its two facilities, commands 55% of the beef processing and packing market in Canada, with the rest being shared among smaller beef processors and packers in the country. Other key players in the Canadian meat packaging industry include JBS Food Canada Inc., Maple Leaf Food Inc., and Olymel LP.

Methodology

Research Strategy

A secondary study was conducted in which secondary sources were used to provide information related to the meat packing industry and wastewater management in this industry. This qualitative study was preferred because of its superiority over the qualitative research in providing in-depth information regarding a phenomenon, which is this case, is the wastewater management at the meat packing industry. Besides, the secondary research approach was found to be suitable in the existing situation in which, the ongoing pandemic makes it difficult to interact with participants, travel across the meat packing factories, and having face-to-face discussions with key stakeholders in the meat packing industry due to the public health restrictions imposed because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, secondary research is suitable when the researcher is resource-strapped, because it saves time and is cost-effective. The secondary sources comprised peer-reviewed journal articles, industry reports from governments and their agencies, industry regulators, and meat packing companies, news items from trusted news agencies and magazines, and expert opinions from meat packing professionals and academia.

Sample and Sampling Techniques

The secondary sources were sampled from online sources using inclusion criteria. The sources were sought using search engines like Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic. The keywords used in the online search process included, meat packing industry, meat packing process, meat packing and water pollution, water pollution prevention in meat packing, and wastewater quality from meat packers. The inclusion criteria for relevant secondary sources includes a) having been published in the last five years, that is, since 2016, b) having been published in English or any other language, provided the English-translated versions were also available, and c) containing relevant information related to meat packaging and wastewater management. The secondary sources were clustered according to their thematic focus to enable cluster sampling. The clusters included meat packing industry usage of water and meat packing industry prevention of water pollution. Random sampling was used for each of these clusters to ensure that the critical information categories were captured sufficiently. However, the researcher perused the sampled secondary source before finding a new one to establish the thematic areas it covered, the adequacy of the information therein, and any knowledge gaps that were left glaring by the source. Therefore, the researcher used theoretical sampling to ensure that the selected secondary sources contained information that was unique and critical for addressing the study objectives without being unnecessarily repetitive (Saunders, et al., 2018). Twenty articles that made the criteria were selected as the secondary sources for this study.

Data Treatment and Analysis

The secondary sources were analyzed using thematic analysis to unearth the overarching themes related to meat packing and wastewater quality management. The researcher assigned codes to the themes emerging from the secondary sources. These codes were augmented and refined as themes emerged from the secondary sources. The researcher maintained this process until no new themes emerged.

The numerous sub-themes were condensed to main themes that were related to the research question and objectives. The researcher condensed the overarching themes to ensure that they addressed a) the current state of the meat packing industry across the world, and more specifically, in Canada, which was the area of focus in this study, b) the characterization standards of wastewater, particularly from the effluents of the meat packing industry, and c) the water pollution reduction and prevention initiatives undertaken by meat packers across the world and in Canada

Ethical Considerations

Although this study did not involve any human participants, the researcher adhered to certain ethical considerations that are required in qualitative research. Firstly, the researcher ensured that the information obtained from the secondary sources was presented as accurately and truthfully as possible to avoid misrepresentations and misconceptions. In this regard, the researcher endeavored to divorce his opinions regarding certain perceptions presented in the secondary sources from influencing the observations made and conclusions drawn. Secondly, the researcher ensured that proprietary information divulged by specific meat packing companies was treated confidentially, unless consent was sought from the individual firms. In this regard, the researcher attempted to avoid assigning certain meat packing and wastewater management practices to specific companies to prevent damaging their reputations unnecessarily. Thirdly, the researcher attempted to make objective analysis and conclusions from the findings to reduce personal bias. In this regard, the researcher declared when any personal or subjective opinion was expressed when presenting and discussing the findings from this study.   

Findings

The secondary sources revealed that meat packing was a critical component of the food processing industry, which was exposed to robust market forces, strong environmental regulation, and changing demands of consumers. The meat packing industry in Canada was experiencing market forces and challenges similar to those in other countries across the world. These headwinds and industry environment forces had a significant effect on the demand for meat products in Canada, and in turn, the amount of water used in the meat processing and packing activities by the Canadian meat packing industry.

Market forces encountered by the Canadian meat packing industry

The secondary sources revealed that the Canadian meat packing industry was experiencing strong economic headwinds in the meat market. The economic environment had changed dramatically in Canada as the high levels of disposable incomes in Canadian families became eroded by the vagaries of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (Rude, 2021). The public health pandemic has renders many Canadians jobless as industries closed due to disrupted supply chains and reduced demand due to lockdown and travel restrictions (Rude, 2021). Besides, the hospitality industry has become most aggrieved by the pandemic because public health protocols demanded that unnecessary travel and congregation be avoided, lowering visitations to restaurants, hotels, and other leisure locations where meat products are consumed (Rude, 2021). Consequently, many Canadian families were unable to afford meat products due to reduced family incomes. In turn, the growth trend of the meat processing and packing industry had slumped significantly since the advent of the pandemic in early 2020.     

Environmental regulatory environment surrounding the Canadian meat packing industry

The findings from the secondary sources revealed that wastewater quality was highly regulated at the federal and provincial levels in Canada, considering that the country’s produced more than 150 billion liters of undertreated and untreated wastewater annually, which was directed into the water bodies and waterways (Government of Canada, 2017). The Fisheries Act of 1985, which was last amended in 2019, outlined the wastewater systems effluent regulations published by the Minister of Justice as recommended by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. The regulations outline the maximum allowable wastewater effluent components that can be released to water bodies following treatment, as summarized in table 3.

Table 3.  Limits of deleterious substances in wastewater effluents in Canada

Type of deleterious substance	Allowable limits (units)
Carboniferous biochemical oxygen demand (COBD) matter	25 mg/L
Suspended solids	25 mg/L
Total residual chlorine	0.02 mg/L
Un-ionized ammonia	1.25 mg/L at 15OC

  The regulation also required that producers of wastewater install monitoring equipment to measure the volume continuous effluent at the final discharge point and submit annual reports electronically (Government of Canada, 2017; Ministry of Justice, 2021). In turn, the liquid effluents produced by meat processing and packing industry in Canada were regulated by the meat and poultry products plant liquid effluent regulations stipulated in the Fisheries Act. The regulation required that meat processing and packing firms collect and analyze their wastewater effluents at a daily frequency equivalent to the flow rate of the effluent discharge. The sampling and analysis frequency ranged between once monthly to twice weekly for small and large producers of meat products (less than 500 tonnes-more than 10,000 tonnes annually), respectively (Ministry of Justice, 2021). Firms were required to submit monthly reports of their analytical findings to the Minister. The Act defined three deleterious substances that needed monitoring, which were, a) biochemical oxygen demanding matter, total suspended matter, and grease (Ministry of Justice, 2021). Table 4 summarizes the allowable limits from meat processors and packers under the meat and poultry products plant liquid effluent regulations. The specific allowable amounts of deleterious substance deposits from wastewater different within the provided ranges based on the type of meat processed and type of firm. 

Table 4. Authorized deposits of deleterious substances

Deleterious substance	Daily deposit
Average	Maximum
Biochemical oxygen demanding matter	0.35-0.7 kg/tonne of finished product	0.7-1.4 kg/tonne of finished product
Total suspended matter	0.25-0.6 kg/tonne of finished product	0.5-1.2 kg/tonne of finished product
Grease	0.4-0.8 kg/tonne of finished product	0.8-1.6 kg/tonne of finished product

From the secondary findings, it was revealed that Canada Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) regulated the meat processing and packing activities in firms to uphold the quality and safety of packed meat products. This agency required that meat packing firms have a preventative control plan and observe the highest levels of hygiene in the processing activities (Government of Canada, 2019).  In addition, Environment Canada publishes the standards of effluents in wastewater, as summarized in table 5.

Table 5. Standard limits of wastewater discharge from meat processors and packers in Canada

Characteristic	Abbreviation	Measurement unit	Range/ limit
Biochemical oxygen demand	BOD	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	5-30 mg/L
Chemical oxygen demand	COD	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	250 mg/L
Total organic carbon	TOC	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	n/a
Total suspended solids	TSS	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	5-30 mg/L
Total phosphorus	TP	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	1.0 mg/L
Total nitrogen	TN	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	1.25 mg/L
Potassium	K	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	1.0 mg/L
Acidity	pH	0-14	6-9
Color	Color	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	n/a
Turbidity	Turbidity	Nephelometric turbidity units (NTU)	n/a
Conductivity	Conductivity	micromhos per centimeter (µmhos/cm)	n/a

The secondary sources revealed that Canadian meat processing and packing firms undertook some initiatives to achieve the high standards of wastewater quality set by the regulatory authorizes. Bustillo-Lecompte, Mehrvar, and Quiñones-Bolaños (2016) revealed that about 53% of slaughterhouses in Ontario did not treat their wastewater effluents before discharging it to the municipal sewer system. In addition, 16% of these facilities used dissolved air floatation and aeration as the typical methods for treating their effluents preliminarily before disposal while 31% of the facilities used passive water treatment methods, such as storage tanks and lagoons to settle the suspended solids in their wastewater. However, slaughterhouses were challenged by having to pay fines, penalties, and surcharges to discharge their wastewater effluents into the municipal wastewater treatment facilities because they did not have their in-house water treatment systems (Bustillo-Lecompte, Mehrvar, and Quiñones-Bolaños, 2016).  Figure 2 summarizes the wastewater treatment methods used by slaughterhouses and meat processing firms in Ontario.

Figure 2. Types of wastewater treatment systems used by slaughterhouses and meat processing plants in Ontario

Source: Bustillo-Lecompte, Mehrvar, and Quiñones-Bolaños (2016)

Changing consumer preferences encountered by the Canadian meat packing industry

The secondary sources revealed that food consumption preferences in Canada were changing, thus affecting the demand of meat products and the performance of the meat packing industry in the country. Firstly, food consumers were increasingly conscious of the quality of food they confused due increased health awareness related to processed foods and meat products (Aboagye et al., 2021). A significant proportion of the Canadian population was switching from meat-based meals to non-meat-based ones to improve their health wellbeing. In particular, many Canadian families were opting for vegetarian diets and avoiding consuming meats for fear of contracting non-communicable chronic diseases and health complications, such as obesity, heart diseases, and allergies. Therefore, the demand for meat products had reduced significantly in Canada.

Secondly, there was an emerging trend towards the preference of organic foods among many Canadians. In this regard, many people were avoiding processed foods, including processed meat products, to reduce the environmental concerns related to the food processing activities, such as the use of preservatives, which were thought to lower the quality of food by introducing chemicals that produced long-term health detriments. Besides, the trend towards organic foods was driven by the need to conserve the environment by using sustainable food production methods that used minimum artificial inputs and avoided productivity-enhancing technologies (Aboagye et al., 2021). In this regard, the demand for meat from naturally and open field-raised animals was increasing at the expense of the meats from animals raised on artificial nutritional supplements and using modern genetic engineering technologies, which were employed to accelerate animal maturation and increase their live weights to maximize production and profits. In turn, the prices of organic meats were high to cover the reduced production levels associated with organic animal husbandry practices. This kept organic meat products out of reach for many Canadian consumers, thus lowering demand.  

Discussion

Current State of the Meat Packing Industry

The meat packing industry was experiencing extreme headwinds from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Scrutiny of the sourcing and processing of meat was at an all-time high following the outbreak of Covid-19 back in late 2019, causing many meat processing and packing companies to downscale their services and even close down as the pandemic attacked workers, lowered demand, and increased government surveillance and regulation.

The meat packing industry endeavors to maintain high standards of their meat products by ensuring that they adhere to the domestic and international standards, especially for meat products availed into the international market. The parameters that meat packers use to determine the quality of their meat products can be categorized into i) nutrient physiology parameters, ii) hygiene and toxicology parameters, iii) processing parameters, and iv) sensory parameters (Biswas and Mandal, 2019). These parameters are summarized in table 1.

Table 1. Meat quality standards parameters

Meat quality categories	Parameters
Nutrient physiology	Protein contentMineral contentFat contentComposition of fatty acids
Hygiene and toxicology	Heavy metal composition and contentPharmaceutical residuesMicrobiological status
Processing	pH valueFat contentSpecific water contentDrip lossBlood spotsShear force value
Sensory	ColorOdorTasteTextureJuicinessStructureMarbling

    These parameters provide an indication of the contents of the toxins washed out and contained in the wastewater following the cleaning of the meat products for packing.

Wastewater Characterization

Wastewater effluents have a standard characterization that describes the quality of the water and helps determine when such effluents are safe for discharge into the environment and into water bodies that serve as fresh water sources for people across the world. Wastewater is characterized by the amount of toxins and pollutants it contains, which is based on the allowable toxin levels in water to be considered safe for human use and environmental discharge. However, Canadian standards are more stringent compared to other countries across the world. Table 2 outlines the wastewater components and their allowable range from meat processing and packing effluents from data obtained from various countries worldwide through The World Bank, the European Union, United States EPA, Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council, Indian Central Pollution Control Board, Columbian Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, and Environment Canada (Farooq and Ahmad, 2017). The Canadian standards were at the lower limit of the ranges provided in table 2.

Table 2. Typical meat processing and packing wastewater characteristics

Characteristic	Abbreviation	Measurement unit	Range/ limit
Biochemical oxygen demand	BOD	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	5-100 mg/L
Chemical oxygen demand	COD	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	40-300 mg/L
Total organic carbon	TOC	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	10-60 mg/L
Total suspended solids	TSS	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	5-100 mg/L
Total phosphorus	TP	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	0.1-5 mg/L
Total nitrogen	TN	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	1.25-50 mg/L
Potassium	K	Milligrams per liter (mg/L)	1.0 mg/L
Acidity	Ph	0-14	5-9

Source: Farooq and Ahmad (2017)

The flow rate of wastewater is a critical parameter in water treatment. It is measured as the volume of wastewater discharged in a given time, usually calculated as cubic meters per minute (m³/min) (Prashanthi and Sundaram, 2016). In the same vein, the meat packing industry is subjected to the standardized analytical methodologies for determining the different parameters measuring the levels of pollutants in their wastewater before discharging the treated water to municipal sewerage systems or water bodies (Faixo et al., 2021). Meat packing facilities are required to collect and analyze their waste water samples before and after treatment in frequencies determined by their meat product production volumes. Large meat packers are ascribe a higher analysis frequency of once weakly while small meat packing facilities should analyze their wastewater once monthly. The rationale for these different frequencies of analysis is that the large meat processing facilities discharge much more wastewater than their smaller counterparts, and therefore need to test their waste water more frequently, because they pose a higher human and environmental risk.   

Pollution Prevention

The meat packing industry undertakes several initiatives to prevent environmental pollution. Most of these initiatives are guided by wastewater regulations enacted by various environmental management authorities in a given local jurisdiction, state or province, and international agencies. These regulations require that industries, including the meat processing and packing industry, remove environmentally-hazardous toxins before releasing the effluents to the environment and water bodies.

Recent advancements in environmental conservation are promoting the sustainable use of water, which is a finite and increasingly diminishing resource. These environmental conservation initiatives are promoting the recycling and reusing of water from industrial processes to ensure that they do not outcompete other activities that use water, such as human consumption and agricultural applications.    

Removal of Toxins from the Meat Packing Industry Wastewater Effluents

Meat packing companies use several technologies and techniques to remove toxins from their wastewater before releasing it to the environment. Currently, the Canadian meat packing factories use basic methods to remove toxins. Dissolved air floatation is used to remove suspended solids from the wastewater effluents. However, it manages to remove about 80% of organic matter and 65% of nitrogenous substances. In addition, thee firms use settling tanks and pools to remote particulate matter through sedimentation. However, these processes do not help the meat packing farms to meet the stringent wastewater quality required by Canadian regulations.

Several technologies could be employed by meat packing firms in Canada to improve the quality and safety of their wastewater. For instance, anaerobic digestion is applicable for removing organic matter that can be degraded by microbes in the absence of oxygen, thus lowering the need to add oxygen into the wastewater treatment process (Náthia-Neves et al., 2018).  

Recycling and Reuse of Wastewater from the Meat Packing Industry

Some meat packing companies are recycling and reusing wastewater after removing pollutants to save water-related costs and preserve the environment. Although there was no evidence from the secondary sources that Canadian meat packing facilities were recycling and reusing their treated wastewater, several technologies for recycling the water and producing usable by-product existed, which could be adopted by the Canadian meat packing industry.

For instance, the anaerobic digestion technology could be used to produce carbon dioxide and methane, which can be used to produce energy to run the meat packing facility and its water treatment system (Alayu and Yirgu, 2018; Fluence Corporation Limited, 2020). This technology is environmentally friendly and sustainable because it produces usable by-products, saving meat packers significant amounts of energy. In the same vein, membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) technology has demonstrated capacity for denitrifying wastewater to meet stringent total nitrogen (TP) regulations (Li and Zhang, 2018). It is an energy efficient technology based on passive aeration in which oxygen is diffused through semipermeable membranes. The advantage with this technology is that in can be incorporated in an existing wastewater treatment system through repurposing and retrofitting. In addition, the nitrogenous and organic materials trapped in the membranes can be used as fertilizers, thus providing valuable and sellable by-products to the meat packing facilities (McCabe, et al., 2020). Besides, the technology is energy efficient and therefore, lowers the overall power consumption of the wastewater treatment process, saving the meat packers significant operational costs.  Electrocoagulation is gaining popularity in wastewater treatment because of its cost-effectiveness, eco-friendliness, low environmental footprint, versatility and ease of setting up (Tahreen, Jami, and Ali, 2020). The technology treats wastewater by passing it between metal plates making an anode and a cathode, thus employing electrochemistry principles. The pollutants in the wastewater are coagulated to sink to the bottom of the treatment tank or attached to hydrogen bubbles to float as sludge. The coalesced matter can be filtered or skimmed off to leave safe recyclable and reusable water from the wastewater effluents (Tahreen, Jami, and Ali, 2020).  Advanced oxidation processes (AOP) are an attractive option for treating wastewater from meat processing effluents because it produces recyclable and reusable water that is safe for human consumption (Farooq and Ahmad, 2017). The technology works by employing strong oxidants, such as the sulphate and hydroxyl radicles in-situ to oxidize the organic pollutants in the wastewater effluents (Bustillo-Lecompte, 2020). The efficiency of this technology can be enhanced by incorporating ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and ozone, which are being experimented on for treating drinking water. Specific Advanced oxidation process technologies include photocatalysis and ozonification (Bustillo-Lecompte, 2020).      

Conclusion

This study revealed that the meat packing industry is one of the major polluting industrial establishments associated with the agricultural and food processing sectors. It also revealed that although Canada had some of the most stringent waste water quality standards in the world and a thriving meat packing industry, meat processors and packers used basic water treatment methods, like dissolved air floatation and sedimentation pools. Therefore, most meat packing firms in Canada were unable to meet the required quality and safety levels for their wastewater effluents. However, there is an opportunity for these facilities to adopt modern and tested wastewater treatment technologies, such as anaerobic digestion, membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) technology, electrocoagulation, and Advanced oxidation processes (AOP). These technologies would enable the meat packing firms meet the stringent water safety and environment regulation, as well as produce valuable and sellable by-products, like biogas and fertilizers, which the firms can use to lower their energy expenditure and generate additional revenues. In addition, the meat packing facilities needed to recycle and reuse their wastewater effluents to reduce water wastage and wastewater-related expenses.

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