The food manufacturing industry includes facilities that produce foods or food ingredients. The industry covers a range of industrial processes, varying from preparation (e.g. slaughtering, milling) to processing (e.g. cooking, freezing, fermenting) to packaging. As classified under North American Industry Classification System (NAICS 311), the Food Manufacturing sector, consists of nine subsectors:

• Animal Food Manufacturing
• Grain and Oilseed Milling
• Sugar and Confectionery Product Manufacturing
• Fruit and Vegetable Preserving and Manufacturing
• Dairy Product Manufacturing
• Animal Slaughtering and Processing (Meats)
• Seafood Product Preparation and Packaging
• Bakeries and Tortilla Manufacturing
• Other Food Manufacturing

For the 2017 reporting year, 1,585 facilities in the sector reported to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program. To track trends in P2 and other sustainable practices, the TRI Program analyzed the food sector’s TRI data to characterize: 1) the major subsectors contributing chemical waste managed and release quantities; 2) how these quantities have changed over time; and 3) the types of pollution prevention practices implemented. To read the complete Food Manufacturing Profile, see Chapter 22 of Green Energy to Sustainability: Strategies for Global Industries. Exit

Waste Managed and Releases

For TRI reporting, the quantity of “waste managed” includes TRI chemical waste managed through recycling, energy recovery, treatment or release to the environment.

Chemicals

The TRI chemicals released in the largest quantities in 2017 for each subsector are shown in the table below.

Nitrate compounds and/or ammonia are among the top three chemicals released for almost every Food subsector, and these chemicals, along with n-hexane, are the top three chemicals released and managed as waste for the entire Food sector. The manufacture, processing or otherwise use of these chemicals (and the waste management methods chosen for them) are largely associated with specific subsectors:

• Nitrate compounds are manufactured as a result of nitrification during aerobic biological treatment of ammonia in wastewater. They are also manufactured when nitric acid, used for cleaning and sanitation, is treated (neutralized) prior to wastewater discharge. The Meats and Dairy subsectors are the biggest contributors of waste managed and releases quantities of nitrate compounds.
• Ammonia is often used to sanitize food manufacturing equipment and may also be formed by mineralization of organic nitrogen-containing waste. Releases and treatment of ammonia are largely dominated by the Meats subsector. However, more than half of ammonia waste is managed through recycling, and mostly reported by Grain/Oilseed Milling facilities, where ammonia is used during pre-treatment in the wet corn milling process to improve yields.
• n-Hexane is used within the Grain/Oilseed Milling subsector to extract and process a variety of oils from raw agricultural commodities. This subsector of the food manufacturing industry accounted for most of the n-hexane waste reported to the s TRI Program. As a volatile chemical, n-hexane releases were almost entirely to air.

Source Reduction Activities Reported to TRI

Reduced environmental releases of TRI-covered chemicals are driven in part by the implementation of source reduction activities. Each year, facilities report their newly implemented source reduction activities to TRI.

• The top three chemicals for which source reduction activities were reported were ammonia, nitric acid, and nitrate compounds, which were also the most commonly reported chemicals each year.
• TRI facilities most often implemented “Good Operating Practices”. Under this source reduction category, facilities specified improved maintenance, record-keeping, and procedures. “Process Modifications” were also frequently reported, and most often comprised of optimized reaction conditions or modified equipment, layout, or piping.

Sustainability Activities in Food Manufacturing

Along with source reduction, the food manufacturing sector has achieved further sustainability gains by implementing preferred waste management practices such as recycling and treatment. These include:

• Process and technology modifications implemented to reduce energy consumption and use less toxic chemicals
  • Example: Reducing energy use by placing ovens in areas away from processes requiring cooler environments
  • Example: Reducing toxic chemical use by replacing bisphenol A in food packaging
• Recycling of food packaging and organic waste to reduce environmental impacts after the useful life of a material
  • Example: In the Seafood subsector, reusing skin, bone, and fin as fish meal and fertilizer.
• Wastewater treatment to destroy TRI chemicals
  • Example: Transitioning away from traditional disinfectants for treating wastewater (e.g., chlorine) and using alternative technologies, such as ultraviolet treatment systems.

For More Information

• Explore the food manufacturing data using EPA’s data visualization tool
• To read the complete Food Manufacturing Profile, see Chapter 22 of Green Energy to Sustainability: Strategies for Global Industries. Exit

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