Environmental Resources for Eggs

General

Multimedia Environmental Compliance Guide for Food Processors
As food processors, you are regulated by a variety of federal laws administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that impact human activities and the environment. Noncompliance with these regulations can damage human health and the environment, and result in significant financial liabilities for clean up costs or fines. Environmental compliance may be difficult for some food processors that do not have the time, staff, or other resources necessary to determine their responsibilities. Also, environmental regulations and laws can be complicated, and information on environmental compliance may be difficult to locate. Adding to these complexities, you must be aware of and meet stringent food safety requirements. To assist you, EPA, with special assistance from the American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI), the American Meat Institute (AMI), the National Food Processors Association (NFPA) and the Food Industry Environmental Council (FIEC), has developed this guide to address these issues.

Air

Water/Wastewater

Recovery and Utilization of Useful By-Products from Egg Processing Wastewater by Electrocoagulation
The efficacy of a laboratory electrocoagulation (EC) system for treating egg processing plant wastewater (WW) is reported. For simulated and industrial egg processing WW, chemical oxygen demand, turbidity, and total suspended solids (TSS) were reduced 92 to 97%, 97%, and 99%, respectively, after treatment with EC. The final TSS concentration and turbidity values were 30 mg/L and 5 formazin turbidity units (FTU), respectively, similar to that of potable water standards. The recovered byproduct solids had a similar pattern of essential amino acids compared to that of liquid whole egg and were comparable to the Food Agriculture Organization's essential amino acid profile for an ideal protein. The relative protein digestibilities of the recovered solids and a commercial corn meal averaged 130 and 56%, respectively, compared to liquid whole egg (set at 100%). An economic analysis of EC indicated that this treatment is economically feasible in that a savings of approximately $425,000 per year is possible in addition to recovering the capital equipment costs after about 14 mo of operation. These findings demonstrate that EC can be successfully applied to treat egg processing plant WW, yielding a high quality water suitable for recycling and valuable by-products having a highly digestible protein and fat value.

A Survey of Common Practices in Shell Egg Processing Facilities and Water Use
Shell egg processing facilities in the U. S. were surveyed for common production practices and water use. Results were compiled and analyzed for frequency and significance via chi-square analysis. Of the respondents, 65.8 % utilized wells as their primary source of water. Furthermore, 19.2 % of the facilities discharged water to city sewers. Over half of the facilities processed 7 d each week with 8 to 9 h shifts (P < 0.05). There was a similar distribution of in-line, off-line and mixed operations represented in the responses. Two-thirds of the operations were dual washer systems with about half being plumbed separately. Over 90% of the operations performed daily sanitation. Most facilities did not attempt to recycle water from their process. Fifty percent of the respondents utilized processing lines that are 5-15 yr old. The age of the processing line, number of processing days each week, size of facility and type of operation did not have a significant effect on water use.

Waste Reduction in Egg Processing
Small food processors who have wastewater problems have a severe financial disadvantage in solving these problems due to the high initial capital cost of wastewater pretreatment systems. To operate these systems they must have a trained operator to operate the pre-treatment system. This is an additional cost. To minimize this financial burden, a feasible approach is to reduce the water use and wastewater loading in the processing plant.

Energy

Energy Analysis of Liquid Whole Egg Pasteurized by Pulsed Electric Fields
Non-thermal preservation of liquid whole egg (LWE) with pulsed electric fields (PEF) is an attractive alternative to thermal processing where protein coagulation is of concern. The objective of this study was to evaluate the energy applied under different PEF processing conditions and its effect on the microbial quality of LWE during refrigerated storage. The LWE was stabilized with citric acid (CA) at 0.15% and 0.5% to prevent color darkening. Inside a pilot plant-size PEF chamber, the peak values of the electric field traces at the high-voltage electrode, middle gap, and low-voltage electrode were 37, 30, and 25 kV/cm, respectively. The pulse width was 1.84 ls, with energy density at 11.9 J/ml per pulse. The total treatment time varied from 54 to 478 ls (corresponding with 30–266 slightly underdamped pulses). The microbiological quality of the LWE was monitored weekly while under refrigerated storage at 4°C. The CA not only acted as a color stabilizer but also increased the effectiveness of PEF treatment.