Businesses must always find ways to innovate and stay relevant, especially as environmentally conscious practices become the norm. Sustainability is not only good business, but it boosts the public perception of your corporate social responsibility. Here are the most common sustainable practices in the food processing industry.
Water Conservation Efforts
Whether you wash produce with water or use water for your soups, food processing plants utilize tons of water each day. Water is essential to life and health, but it’s a limited resource that companies must use wisely—water conservation efforts like drip irrigation, wastewater reuse, and continuous operations can help.
Nontoxic Pest Control
Agriculturalists have always dealt with the pervasive presence of pests. These insects and animals can devastate entire fields and ruin a whole season’s crop, resulting in massive revenue losses and food insecurity. That’s why pest control is vital to the success of a food processing company—you can’t sell food without the ingredients to make it in the first place.
Pest control is a necessary measure for all food-related businesses, but there is more than one way to handle these devastating animals. Rather than using toxic pesticides and fertilizers, farmers can implement biocontrol methods that use microbial pesticides. These microbial pesticides utilize insect pathogens and parasitoids that infect and kill the insect populations through natural means.
Rethinking Food Waste
Food processing plants maximize ingredient use to make the most of their investment. However, almost every machine and process will produce food waste along the way. Apple cores, corn husks, and broccoli stems—food processors chop off the excess and keep edible and desirable parts. But these extras must go somewhere. Instead of landfills, companies can use food waste as animal feed, send it to food recycling plants, or donate the excess to local charities.
These common sustainable practices in the food processing industry will keep your company efficient and relevant. When you develop your food processing plant, sustainable practices should be at the top of the list.