Food Safety

Protecting the guest

Eco-friendly Bioclean Systems ensures food safety and energy generation, says Dr P V Sarvanakumar

Food safety is essential for public health function. But the quality of street food as well as processed foods in food plazas do not meet HACCP food safety standards. Food safety is a matter of consumer protection. Food processing and value for money are in the hands of food manufacturers/hotels/restaurants/industrial canteens/food courts/food plazas/food processing industries, even farmers who are involved in food safety measures. They must avoid pesticides in cultivating produce since pesticides and chemical fertilisers play a major role in food infection. In order to increase their food production, farmers are inclined to use pesticides ignoring quality of products. Even at home, food is contaminated by bacteria due to unwanted food and food wastes stored at open or closed waste bins in the kitchen preparation area. This poses great health hazards to guests.

The kitchen is the heart/lifeline of a restaurant/hotel and resort and requires provision of at-source waste disposal system. Hotels and resorts/restaurant wastes (both liquid and solid) are unique in several ways when compared to wastes generated by industries. Most hotels/restaurants produce odour in the form of solid or liquid. Practically all solid wastes from hotels are discarded into municipal solid wastes which reach the landfill area. All unused food from the kitchen, leftovers, vegetable wastes, butchery wastes etc are sent to the landfill area without extracting energy from them. This is where green energy development from wastes comes into the picture.

The scientific way of disposing waste is through eco-friendly Bioclean System and Bio3 System for energy generation, that is, biogas and bio-fertiliser. This is value for money from hospitality industries and large floor area saving (wet and dry garbage rooms) and energy saving by air conditioner equipment-capital cost and recurring current charges on a daily basis. Further, Bioclean and Bio3 systems make not only the kitchen environment-friendly but even the entire hotel. Using the bio-fertiliser for landscaping helps the hotel attract foreign eco-tourists.

Hospitality industries using Bioclean and Bio3 Systems become green warriors and help millions of rag pickers by saving them from incurable diseases. All of us are aware that in Surat, Gujarat, hundreds of people suffered from plague due to municipal solid waste contamination. Promoting corporate social responsibility, Naveen Jindal, executive vice chairman and MD of Jindal Steel and Power (OP Jindal Group) and an elected Member of Parliament, has established a Jindal Global University promoting public services. He requested corporate houses to spare some time for social causes.

Second in line

India is next to China in food production. Indian Food production is as follows:

Fruits: 50 million tons
Vegetables: 90 million tons
Others: 360 million tons
Total agricultural production: 500 million tons per annum.

According to statistics available, Rs 50,000 crore per annum of food wastes is going to municipal dump yards. This Rs 50,000 crore could be converted to renewable energy such as biogas and bio-fertiliser in a decentralised anaerobic digestion methodology. Major corporate houses and government institutions should have the will power to establish more green industries.

Forty per cent of the energy crisis in India can be solved. Frequent price increases in petroleum products, LPG and other commodities could be avoided to some extent by this method. India is extending full co-operation in climate change/green house gas emission policy of WTO/WHO requirements.

In Japan, 20 million tons of food waste is produced per annum. They are disposing this through anaerobic digester for generating biogas and bio-fertiliser instead of sending them to landfills and as cattle feed/charities to avoid mad cow disease. In UK, British Environment Minister, John Ruddock said 10 billion GBP worth of food wastes per year is thrown into landfills that generates an enormous amount of carbon impact. They are also going for decentralised anaerobic digester technology and generate biogas/biofertiliser.

In Germany, 820 small biogas plants were installed in 2006 that generated 54MW of power. Biogas electricity production is 1.2 per cent of annual production of German electricity, that is, 1,500 MW. Their strict regulation and incentives are the main cause for 820 small bio-gas plants started in 2006 out of biodegradable waste.

India is wasting Rs 50,000 crore food wastes per annum by disposing it in the municipal dump yard. This can be converted into small electrical energy plants instead of going as captive power plants. This can be used to generate at least 10 per cent of power in India.

The author is director, sales and marketing, Sree Devi Enviro