Recycling food processing wastes in agriculture

fitreatment is becoming much more common in the food processing industry, as city facilities to whom they discharge become overloaded. As a result, an increasing amount of sludge (biomass) is being produced. This material is very low in pollutants while high in minerals as well as protein. Thus, this material should make an excellent fertilizer or animal feed. The concentrations of over 100 priority pollutants have been determined in five different food processing sludges. Even though several priority pollutants have been detected, their levels are low and often are lower than in background soil. Long-term feeding studies of the biomass to sheep and swine indicate no adverse effects when fed as high as 10% of the diet. Land application studies have shown that lime stabilized biomass will significantly increase tall fescue and red clover dry matter yields. Biomass is a valuable material that needs to be recycled to agriculture.