The Management of Meat Packing Plants !

The Management of Meat Packing Plants:

Decisions Regarding the Biological Contaminants in Water from Animal Byproducts

Barclay W. Hughes

Business Management

Dr. Stephen Poe

ABE170A1 Basic Concepts in Water-Related Applications

August 7, 2018
The Management of Meat Packing Plants !2

The Management of Meat Packing Plants:

Decisions Regarding the Biological Contaminants in Water from Animal Byproducts

Many responsibilities fall on the shoulders of the various management levels of industrial

operations. Aside from the more quintessential business maters, such as finance, marketing, and

human resources, many new focal points of business have been placed at the forefront of

industrial concerns within the past decades. Chiefly among these being environmental matters

regarding pollution. Nearly all types of businesses in the industrial sector have many harmful

byproducts derived their production and fabrication processes. This research is intended to

explain the background of the many biological contaminants derived from byproducts of the

meat packing industry and the different types of methods utilized by these companies to comply

with the environmental regulations.

Access to clean drinking water has always been of great importance to any developed or

undeveloped country. The ability to acquire safe water is a right that ranks as has the rights to

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, access to clean water hasn’t always been at

front of minds of the people. Prior to 1972, the government of the United States did little to

enforce the regulations regarding the treatment and pollution of water. It wasn’t until October 18,

1972 that the Federal government took a strong stance against the slow destruction of our water

sources. On that day, the Clean Water Act was ratified in the legislative branch and enacted by

the executive brach of our great country. This act was the first and most influential of the now

many contemporary environmental laws. The objective of this new, bold legislature was to

closely monitor and zealously limit the level of contaminants entering our country’s water
The Management of Meat Packing Plants !3

sources. These contaminates being chemical, physical, and biological. Additionally, the Clean

Water Act permitted the Federal government to provided financial assistance to publicly owned

treatment plants.

These new laws, under the banner of the Clean Water Act, have been instrumental in

ensuring that the population of our country will not fall victim to contaminated water. Aside from

the positive impact for the average citizen of the United States, these radical changes had a very

large impact upon the many industrial companies of our country. Prior to Clean Water Act,

manufacturing and processing companies were among the top polluters in our country. The

restrictions these companies faced were pitiful and easily sidestepped.

These industrial companies now faced stiff regulations and strict enforcement. Gone were

the times in which little thought was given to the impact of the byproduct of their production

processes. The management of these companies were now faced with a set of very difficult

realities; how to make the changes necessary to comply with the new federal regulations while

also maintaining the quality of the products and the size of their profit margins. The meat

packing industry, one of the oldest and most important in the United States, faced changes no

different then that of the vehicle industry. Both had their share of water contaminates unique to

their industry.

The Meat packing industry, as defined by Tox Town (2017), “…involves animal

slaughterer facilities where meat is sold or kept on site” (Tox Town, 2017). Within the meat

packing industry, water is used in copious amounts during the production run of ever single day.

Aside from the livestock and the men and women of the work force, water is one of the most

important resources absolutely required for the production processes to take place. It has a role in
The Management of Meat Packing Plants !4

every single individual job within the slaughter and fabrication departments. Because of how

vital water is to each and ever processes along the production line, massive amounts of water are

used daily and as a result, an equally massive amount of contaminants are introduced into it.

The majority of the contaminants introduced into the water at a meat packing plant are of

biological nature, although there are some smaller amounts of chemical pollutants as well.

According to the Design of a Modern Meat-Packing Waste Treatment Plant (1968), these

biological contaminants are derived from the following major elements of the meat-packing

process. From livestock pens comes urine, feces, mud and more. The animals are held within

these pens for up to but no longer than 12 hours. This amount of time results in a massive

buildup of biological contaminants, which at the end of the business day, must be cleaned out

thoroughly prior to the arrival of the next group of animals the following morning. (Willoughby

& Patton, 1968)

The slaughtering and blood processing stages of production are another period in which

massive amounts of biological contaminants are released. During this phase, the blood is drained

from the carcass and stored. Understandably, this is is quite a messy messy process and thus

requires very throughout cleaning with water at 180˚ F. According to the Design of a Modern

Meat-Packing Waste Treatment Plant (1968), the blood of the animal posses the largest danger to

our water, “Of all waste products, blood has the highest polluting value with a BOD rain between

150,000 - 200,000 mg/L” (Willoughby, Patton, 1968). Due to the sheer level of contaminants that

must now be washed away, it becomes more clear how much water is required and subsequently

polluted
The Management of Meat Packing Plants !5

Following the slaughter and the start of the disassembly comes the viscera handling, hide

processing, and cutting processes. These elements of the production department involve the bulk

of the disassembly process, it consists of the removal of the hide and viscera, and then cutting the

carcass into the many well know cuts of meat that grace many tables across the world. Chiefly

among these phases is the removal of the paunch from the stomach of the animal. According to

the Design of a Modern Meat-Packing Waste Treatment Plant (1968), “Paunch manure is the

next largest polluter [after the blood] and can contribute greatly to TSS and BOD” (Willoughby,

Patton, 1968).

After all of these processes are completed, every square inch of the production floor and

equipment must be thoroughly sanitized with water at a temperature of 190˚ F, as per the strict

regulations enforced by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The amount of

water utilized to accomplish this daily task is staggering. As stated in Water and Energy Use and

Wastewater Production in aa Beef Packing Plant (2015), presently, for every thousand pounds of

animal, 355 gallons of water are used. When one takes into consideration that any given animal

is around 1,400 pounds and a medium sized plant processes between 1500-3000 head a day, the

water requirements for a meat packing plant become more apparent. (Ziara, 2015)

In the minds of the those who own and manage a meat packing plant, the water

requirements for a single day of production are always taken into consideration. Due to the strict

regulations of food safety and plant sanitation regulated by the USDA, the level of water utilized

is not a factor that can easily be lessened. However, it is well within their power to ensure that

the water that the contaminated water doesn’t leave their plant until some level of water

treatment has been done to it.

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In the decades preceding the Clean Water Act of 1972, water sanitation facilities within a

meat packing plant were practically nonexistent, thankfully that is no longer the case. On the

premises of nearly every meat packing plant now exists their own facilities for cleansing the

water utilized in the production process prior to returning it to the state run pipes. Although there

are many different types of methods by which meat packing plants treat the water prior to

discharge, two have proved to be the most implemented and utilized most readily.

The first and most commonly used method is anaerobic lagoons. As explained in Waste

Treatment: Upgrading Meat Packing Facilities To Reduce Pollution (1973),

Anerobic lagoons are used widely for treatment of meat packing wastes, and function

extremely well…typically, meat packing wastes have a high quantity of fats and proteins,

high concentrations of nutrients, and an elevated temperature - all of these are essential for

good anaerobic biological treatment. (Wells & Haas, 1973, p. 17)

This process functions in a way similar to that of a septic system, through its processes it allows

much of the biological contaminants within the waster to consolidate on the surface. Then the

scum buildup on the surface, in incremental time periods, is removed. Many anaerobic lagoon

facilities have three or more of these lagoons that work in tandem.

Aside from the environmental benefits of the treatment of water through this process, it is

also appealing to the managers of a meat packing plant due to its costs. According to Waste

Treatment: Upgrading Meat Packing Facilities To Reduce Pollution (1973), “…anaerobic lagoon

systems are low initial cost, ease of operation, ability to accept shock loads… and can hold a

process a large amount of grease” (Wells & Haas, 1973, p. 18)

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In addition to the anaerobic lagoon water treatment systems, the second most common

water treatment method is utilizing an activated-sludge processes. As explained in Waste

Treatment: Upgrading Meat Packing Facilities To Reduce Pollution (1973),

One of the most efficient and widely used systems of biological treatment of wastewater is

the activated-sludge process. Aeration of wastewater containing biologically degradable

material in the presence of micro-organisms produces a mass of settleable solids known as

activated sludge. (Wells & Haas, 1973, p. 21)

This machinery cleanses the water through a three steps process. First, sedimentation is utilized

in an effort to remove any sizable solids within the wastewater. Second, the wastewater and the

biologically active sludge is then subjected to aeration. Third and lastly, the biologically active

sludge is separated from the wastewater through further sedimentation. Please see figure 1

(below), the activated-sludge process and its variations, for a visual representation of the process.

The

activated-sludge

process is also

appealing to

managers of a meat

plant due to its low

cost, ease of use, and

effectiveness in the

removal biological
Figure 1. The activated-sludge process and its variations. (Wells & Haas, 1973, p. 21)
contaminants. In
The Management of Meat Packing Plants !8

addition, many meat packing plants will feature up to three or more of these machines in order to

maximize the amount of biological contaminants removed from the wastewater. The process

mentioned above is the most basic form of this machinery, many more sophisticated types of it

exist as well. These other versions grants a further advantage to the managers of meat packing

plants in the form of flexibility.

Any and all managers of meat packing plants understand the role of water in their plants’

operations. Its role has always been one that is crucial to its success in both the realms of

production and sanitation. To meet the ever growing food safety regulations, increasing amount

of water are required to adequately purge any and all contaminants from the facilities and

machinery. Because of this, the implementation of methods by which to treat the water utilizes in

the plants is of paramount importance to not only the environment but also to those individuals

who serve as administrators to their company. The biological contaminates that are released as

byproducts of meat production are very dangerous for human consumption and thus adequate

steps must be taken to ensure water is treated properly. This is in the best interest of the

manager’s of meat packing plants because it is less harmful on the public water systems but also

because of financial reasons. It is cheaper for a meat packing plant to remove the majority of

contaminants on site than to pay to have them removed by the state run water treatment facilities.

Overall, the steps that managers of meat packing plants have taken have proven to be of benefit

to the environment and to our water. 


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References

Tox Town. (2017, August 22). Urban and Industrial Runoff. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from

https://toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/locations.php?id=60

Wells, W., & Haas, C. A. (1973). Waste Treatment: Upgrading Meat Packing Facilities To

Reduce Pollution.

Willoughby, E., & Patton, V. (1968). Design of a Modern Meat-Packing Waste Treatment Plant.

Water Environment Federation, 40(1), 132-137. Retrieved July 21, 2018, from https://

www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25035993.pdf?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.

Ziara, R. (2015). Water and Energy Use and Wastewater Production in a Beef Packing Plant

(Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska - Lincoln) [Abstract]. (UMI No. 81)