Food Processing Factories Research Articles

Tracing Staphylococcus aureus in small and medium-sized food-processing factories on the basis of molecular sub-species typing

Contamination by Staphylococcus aureus of the production environment of three small or medium-sized food-processing factories in Slovakia was investigated on the basis of sub-species molecular identification by multiple locus variable number of tandem repeats analysis (MLVA). On the basis of MLVA profiling, bacterial isolates were assigned to 31 groups. Data from repeated samplings over a period of 3 years facilitated to draw spatial and temporal maps of the contamination routes for individual factories, as well as identification of potential persistent strains. Information obtained by MLVA typing allowed to identify sources and routes of contamination and, subsequently, will allow to optimize the technical and sanitation measures to ensure hygiene.

A systematic framework to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of carbohydrate-rich wastewater treatment with bioresource exploitation alternatives in small- and medium-sized enterprises

Abstract A conceptual design framework for wastewater treatment with advanced bioresource exploitation is developed. Using the framework, a process that minimizes chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the treated wastewater is designed, considering factory-specific conditions while satisfying a constraint on treatment budget allowance (TBA). A food processing factory can now assess the initial investment, economic payback period, and environmental impacts associated with designs generated for various TBA constraints. For a specific factory in Taiwan producing 4900 kg day –1 of tofu, a baseline 1.9 million New Taiwan dollars investment is proposed, which is paid back in 5.5 years mainly by the avoided pollution fee rather than recovered heat and electricity. Two anaerobic digestion reactors (73.9 and 70.7 m 3 ) and a 5 kW biogas combined heat and power unit will reduce wastewater COD (from 14793 to 100 mg L −1 ) and achieve a potential reduction of 72 kg–CO 2 –eq. day −1 of greenhouse gas emissions.

Economical Evaluation of Introducing Oil-water Separation Technology to Wastewater Treatment of Food Processing Factory Based on Separation Engineering

Abstract Oil-water separation technology contributes to reduce the initial cost and running cost of the facilities for wastewater treatment, and reuse the recovered oil as valuable resources, such as edible oil under sanitalization equipment in food factory, material for biofuel or automobile tire. Using Value Function and Separative Work Unit (SWU) of separation engineering for the oil-water separation technology in the food processing factory, Naoetsu-Yushi Co. Ltd. Japan, economical advantage of the separation technology was clarified from the viewpoint of reducing the initial cost and running cost of the facilities for wastewater treatment, and reusing the recovered oil.

Extraction of Chemical Fingerprint in Food Industry Wastewater

Wastewater source tracing technology is a method to find the pollution wrecker based on wastewater chemical fingerprint database. How to extract and verify the chemical fingerprints of each factory is the key technology. Here report the extraction of chemical fingerprint by taking two factories (food brewing and food processing factories) surrounding Tong Zhou North Canal (Beijing) as representatives. Firstly, the organic chemicals, anions, heavy metal ions in wastewater are detected respectively by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), ion chromatography (IC), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and three-dimensional excitation emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy (3D-EEM). According to the screening principles of chemical fingerprints, the pollution and characteristic fingerprints of two factories are identified. Finally, the simulated water samples were used to test the stability and feasibility of the extracted chemical fingerprints.

Hazardous airborne carbonyls emissions in industrial workplaces in China

A pilot hazardous airborne carbonyls study was carried out in Hong Kong and the Mainland of China. Workplace air samples in 14 factories of various types of manufacturing and industrial operations were collected and analyzed for a panel of 21 carbonyl compounds. The factories can be classified into five general categories, including food processing, electroplating, textile dyeing, chemical manufacturer, and petroleum refinery. Formaldehyde was invariably the most abundant carbonyl compound among all the workplace air samples, accounting for 22.0–44.0% of the total measured amount of carbonyls on a molar basis. Acetone was also found to be an abundant carbonyl in workplace settings; among the selected industrial sectors, chemical manufacturers’ workplaces had the highest percentage (an average of 42.6%) of acetone in the total amount of carbonyls measured in air. Benzaldehyde accounted for an average of 20.5% of the total amount of detected carbonyls in electroplating factories, but its contribution was minor in other industrial workplaces. Long-chain aliphatic carbonyls (C6–C10) accounted for a large portion (37.2%) of the total carbonyls in food-processing factories. Glyoxal and methylglyoxal existed at variable levels in the selected workplaces, ranging from 0.2% to 5.5%. The mixing ratio of formaldehyde ranged from 8.6 to 101.2 ppbv in the sampled workplaces. The observed amount of formaldehyde in two paint and wax manufacturers and food-processing factories exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guideline of 81.8 ppbv. Carcinogenic risks of chronic exposure to formaldehyde and acetaldehyde by the workers were evaluated. The lifetime cancer hazard risks associated with formaldehyde exposure to male and female workers ranged from 2.01 × 10−5 to 2.37 × 10−4 and 2.68 × 10−5 to 3.16 × 10−4, respectively. Such elevated risk values suggest that the negative health impact of formaldehyde exposure represents a valid concern, and proper actions should be taken to protect workers from such risks. Implications: Many carbonyl species (e.g., formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and acrolein) are air toxins and they pose public health risks. The scope of this investigation covers 21 types of carbonyls based on samples collected from 14 different workplaces. Findings of the study will not only provide a comprehensive assessment of indoor air quality with regard to workers’ healthy and safety, but also establish a theoretical foundation for future formulation of intervention strategies to reduce occupational carbonyl exposures. No similar study has been carried out either in Hong Kong or the Mainland of China.

Degradation of austenitic stainless steel caused by the synergic action of hydrogen and stress corrosion

In the paper, cracking in the working surface of the inner layer of a vertical, double-jacket container made of stainless steel which was used in a food processing factory was presented. A wider analysis of corrosion phenomena in austenitic stainless steels was made. The failed part was subjected to a red dye penetrant test and examined macro and microscopically. It was stated that the location of the stress corrosion cracking was in the mixing area at the base of the container, which was caused directly by the welds of the jackets' spacer brackets. Analysis of the results indicated that the reason for the failure was hydrogen-enhanced stress corrosion.

The Optimal Design of Vertical Hammer Mill Based on Pro/E

Vertical hammer mill is widely used in food and feed processing factory. It contains the rotor, sieve plate, machine body, feeding device, discharge device, diver device and etc. Traditional design method used two-dimensional drawings to express three-dimensional information of parts, which was abstract and difficult to be modified. This research utilized 3D software Pro/E to carry out three-dimensional designing, modeling, virtual assemble and motion simulation, and used structural mechanics analysis module Pro/Mechanical to carry out finite element analysis of key parts to optimize design of vertical hammer mill. In the designing process designer can easily modify the parameters, and directly observe the shape, location and movement of parts, which can greatly improve the design efficiency and level.

A Costing Analysis for Decision Making Grid Model in Failure-Based Maintenance

Background. In current economic downturn, industries have to set good control on production cost, to maintain their profit margin. Maintenance department as an imperative unit in industries should attain all maintenance data, process information instantaneously, and subsequently transform it into a useful decision. Then act on the alternative to reduce production cost. Decision Making Grid model is used to identify strategies for maintenance decision. However, the model has limitation as it consider two factors only, that is, downtime and frequency of failures. We consider third factor, cost, in this study for failure-based maintenance. The objective of this paper is to introduce the formulae to estimate maintenance cost. Methods. Fish bone analysis conducted with Ishikawa model and Decision Making Grid methods are used in this study to reveal some underlying risk factors that delay failure-based maintenance. The goal of the study is to estimate the risk factor that is, repair cost to fit in the Decision Making Grid model. Decision Making grid model consider two variables, frequency of failure and downtime in the analysis. This paper introduces third variable, repair cost for Decision Making Grid model. This approaches give better result to categorize the machines, reduce cost, and boost the earning for the manufacturing plant. Results. We collected data from one of the food processing factories in Malaysia. From our empirical result, Machine C, Machine D, Machine F, and Machine I must be in the Decision Making Grid model even though their frequency of failures and downtime are less than Machine B and Machine N, based on the costing analysis. The case study and experimental results show that the cost analysis in Decision Making Grid model gives more promising strategies in failure-based maintenance. Conclusions. The improvement of Decision Making Grid model for decision analysis with costing analysis is our contribution in this paper for computerized maintenance management system.

Irrigation with industrial effluent leads to mortality of coppice growth in Eucalyptus

Summary Land disposal of effluent can be an effective and productive method of dealing with wastewater. One approach has been to use fast-growing trees in plantations to transpire large amounts of water and immobilise chemicals. The productivity of these plantations can be enhanced, and hence the rate of water use and chemical immobilisation increased, by felling trees at an early age and regenerating the plantation using coppice growth. Trials were carried out to evaluate the ability of coppice systems to dispose of effluent produced by a food processing factory in south-eastern Queensland. Plantations of Eucalyptus moluccana and E. tereticornis were irrigated with effluent from an early age—once the seedlings were clearly established. Both species grew well and reached a height of about 8 m within 33 months. At this age selected plots of trees of both species were felled and both readily produced coppice. Irrigation of the coppiced and uncut trees continued. After a further 8 months, coppice growth of both species was failing. By contrast, uncut trees remained healthy. The main causes of the failure of coppiced trees appeared to be a combination of acid soils, high soil Al concentrations and high foliar Mn concentrations. The acidification appears to have been induced by nitrification of the ammonium-N applied in the effluent irrigation, while the high Mn reflects both the low soil pH and the reducing conditions induced by waterlogging with high BOD effluent. At this time the uncut trees showed no clear visual signs of stress. There was less waterlogging in the plots with uncut trees and these had lower foliar concentrations of potentially toxic elements. The use of coppice growth in the context of wastewater disposal could potentially remove greater quantities of water and nutrients than established trees. Results here, however, suggest that the coppice growth was more susceptible to unfavourable environmental conditions than normal tree growth and this should be taken into account when choosing a management regime.

Estimation of available biomass production of crop residues and food processing factories in Northeast Thailand

Estimation of available biomass production of crop residues and food processing factories in Northeast Thailand

Gasification of cashew nut shells for thermal application in local food processing factory

Cashew nut shells are high energy content residues from cashew nut processing. It can potentially replace fuelwood for thermal application in a factory. However, direct combustion of cashew nut shells was troublesome due to low efficiency and high smoke emission. Alternative thermal conversion of cashew nut shells should be used instead. In this work, a gasifier system was designed, built, and installed at a local cashew nut processing factory. Cashew nut shells were converted to producer gas in the downdraft fixed-bed gasifier. The gaseous fuel was then fed to a burner to supply hot water for the factory. From the results obtained, cashew nut shells were successfully used as feedstock in a gasifier. Satisfactory operation was obtained. Gasification of cashew nut shells could provide required thermal input, with clean fuel to the local food processing factory. Preliminary economic analysis showed that the factory can save around $150 a month, with simple period to positive cash flow of less than a year.

フサヒゲフンコバエによる食品工場での大量発生の一例（双翅目, フンコバエ科）

フサヒゲフンコバエによる食品工場での大量発生の一例（双翅目, フンコバエ科）

A case of mass occurrence of Leptocera caenosa (Rondani) in a food processing factory and its morphological characteristics

Mass occurrence of Leptocera caenosa (Rondani) in a food processing factory in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture was observed. The fly is known as a synanthropic species and often reported mass occurrence in human dwellings in Japan. This report shows the morphology of this species and the case of mass occurrence in this factory.

How Do Unions Respond to Nonstandard Work Arrangements? Relations between Core and Non-Core Workers in a Food Processing Factory (Argentina, 2005-2008)

How Do Unions Respond to Nonstandard Work Arrangements? Relations between Core and Non-Core Workers in a Food Processing Factory (Argentina, 2005-2008)

Analysis of the physical and chemical lest results of 337 cakes and pastry

Objective This thesis provided a reliable basis for carrying out the food sanitary supervision in Guangzhou through knowing the sanitary quality condition of the cakes and pastry in Guangzhou. Method Selected the samples randomly from the state-owned and the individual food-processing factory, the shops and the stalls; took the examination and the evaluation according to the national standard GB/T5009-2003Cakes and pastries sanitation standard analysis methods. Results Totally spot-checked 337 cake,the total qualified rate was 96. 1％.The qualified rate for the three kinds of the cakes to ther types of cakes ? took 84.2％ as the minimum.The qualified rate for the acid value was 96.4％, the peroxide value was 99.7％, while the lead and the arsenic were 100.0％.Conclusions The qualified rate of the cakes were increased,while the acid value and the peroxide value were slightly lower.Thus, we should strengthen the monitoring of these two targets. Key words: Cakes and pastry; Physical and chemical index; Analysis

Tracing the Contamination Origin of Coliform Bacteria in Two Small Food-Processing Factories

The objective of this study was to trace contamination sources of coliform bacteria by comparing the types of coliforms between food samples and the processing environments in two small food-processing factories (factories A and B). Fermentation tests of five sugars enabled the successful classification of 16 representative type strains into eight distinct groups. The grouping procedure was then applied to comparison of the coliform flora between food products and various locations in their processing environments. The consistency between each food and the tested locations was evaluated using the Jaccard index. The air conditioner and refrigeration room floor in factory A showed an index of 1.00, while the shaping machine in factory B showed an index of 0.98, indicating that these locations could be contamination sources. The validity of our results was confirmed by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA, which showed 100% matched profiles between the air conditioner and the food in factory A, and highly matched profiles between the machine and the food in factory B. This method for comparing the coliform flora between food and environments has the potential to be a reliable tracing tool for various food industries.

Production of pyrolytic liquids from industrial sewage sludges in an induction-heating reactor

With the application of induction-heating, the pyrolytic experiments have been carried out for three sewage sludges from the food processing factories in an externally heated fixed-bed reactor. The thermochemical characteristics of sludge samples were first analyzed. The results indicated that the calorific value had about 15 MJ/kg on an average, suggesting that it had a potential for biomass energy source. However, its nitrogen concentration was relatively high. From the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) curves, it showed that the pyrolysis reaction can be almost finished in the temperature range of 450–750 °C. The yields of resulting liquid and char products from the pyrolysis of sewage sludge were discussed for examining the effects of pyrolysis temperature (500–800 °C), heating rate (200–500 °C/min), and holding time (1–8 min). Overall, the variation of yield was not so significant in the experimental conditions for three sewage sludges. All results of the resulting liquid products analyzed by elemental analyzer, pH meter, Karl-Fischer moisture titrator and bomb calorimeter were in consistence with those analyses by FTIR spectroscopy. Furthermore, the pyrolysis liquid products contained large amounts of water (>73% by weight) mostly derived from the bound water in the biosludge feedstocks and the condensation reactions during the pyrolysis reaction, and fewer contents of oxygenated hydrocarbons composing of carbonyl and nitrogen-containing groups, resulting in low pH and low calorific values.

Methylobacterium persicinum sp. nov., Methylobacterium komagatae sp. nov., Methylobacterium brachiatum sp. nov., Methylobacterium tardum sp. nov. and Methylobacterium gregans sp. nov., isolated from freshwater

Eight strains, 002-165T, 002-079T, B0021T, Hojyo2, RB603B, RB677T, 002-074T and RB678, isolated from the environment of food-processing factories in Japan, were characterized using a polyphasic approach. The isolates were Gram-negative, strictly aerobic, pink-pigmented, facultatively methylotrophic, non-spore-forming rods. The chemotaxonomic characteristics of these isolates included the presence of C18 : 1omega7c as the major cellular fatty acid and ubiquinone Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone. The DNA G+C content was 67.1-71.1 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA and DNA gyrase B subunit (gyrB) nucleotide sequence confirmed that the eight strains belonged to the Methylobacterium clade. Moreover, a DNA-DNA hybridization analysis showed that the eight isolates represented five novel species. On the basis of their phenotypic and phylogenetic distinctiveness, the isolates represent five novel species within the genus Methylobacterium, for which the names Methylobacterium persicinum sp. nov. (type strain 002-165T =DSM 19562T =NBRC 103628T =NCIMB 14378T), Methylobacterium komagatae sp. nov. (type strain 002-079T =DSM 19563T =NBRC 103627T =NCIMB 14377T), Methylobacterium brachiatum sp. nov. (type strain B0021T =DSM 19569T =NBRC 103629T =NCIMB 14379T), Methylobacterium tardum sp. nov. (type strain RB677T =DSM 19566T =NBRC 103632T =NCIMB 14380T) and Methylobacterium gregans sp. nov. (type strain 002-074T =DSM 19564T =NBRC 103626T =NCIMB 14376T) are proposed.

Environmental impact prediction of air quality in a food processing environment

An impact study of food processing factory in Nigeria on air quality of its environment was studied using a factorial experiment. The effects of three primary air pollutants (by-products of the food processing): nitrogen (IV) oxide (NO2), carbon (IV) oxide (CO2) and sulphur (IV) oxide (SO2) on formation of acid rain also studied. These factors and their interactions in the predictive model showed significant impact on hydrogen ion concentration [H+], which is the key intrinsic parameter of acid rain. However, SO2 had higher detrimental influence than the other pollutants. Statistical analysis of the experimental data showed that the predictive model is adequate for obtaining optimum conditions. Validation of the model gave a correlation coefficient of 0.9999 between the measured and predicted values.

Background of biogas technology and its recent developments in Iran

Biogas activities have been initialised since the mid 1970s in Iran. Only a few of about 70 rural projects are still active. Other activities include four municipal landfill gas extraction projects through which, two projects are being ready for power generation and some anaerobic treatment plants in industrial food processing factories. A modern research plant for practical investigation on anaerobic process as well as two rural biogas units has recently been completed in Iran. The reasons why there is less development of biogas have been discussed in this paper. The considerable difference between the cost of biogas and fossil energies in Iran is a main barrier for development of biogas.