Environmental Impact of Water-Flume Transport of Poultry Processing By-Products

Water serves many important and essential functions in the processing of poultry intosafe and wholesome food products for human consumption. Water is used in the cleaning andsanitation of birds, humans and equipment in a poultry processing plant; as a medium for heattransfer to assist in the cooling of carcasses and in facility HVAC systems; and serves a role asan ingredient in finished products.

In addition, water also serves as the traditional transport medium for moving poultryproces...sing by-products from the production floor to offal recovery areas in the processing plant.Whether it is the tons of feathers generated from automatic picking machines or the hundreds ofthousands of visceral packs removed from carcasses during the evisceration process, the vastmajority of processing plants rely on water-filled flumes to transport these by-products throughthe plant each day. In offal recovery areas the by-products are recovered using screens fortransport to rendering, while the water (now wastewater) is treated to remove pollutants prior todischarge.