Blood, body parts and bacteria pollute wastewater from meatpacking plants. New rules could help clean it up

Blood, body parts and bacteria pollute wastewater from meatpacking plants. New rules could help clean it up

Triumph Foods pork processing facility in St. Joseph, MO. Photo Credit: USDA, Preston Keres. Slaughterhouses and meat and poultry processing plants are among the nation’s most polluting industries. They butcher and prepare around 10 billion animals each year. And use large volumes of water to clean carcasses, machinery, work surfaces and floors. The wastewater contains blood and other body residues and is contaminated with the most phosphorus an…

U.S. Slaughterhouses Dump Wastewater Containing Blood, Body Parts and Bacteria. The EPA Is Looking to Change That.

Slaughterhouses and meat and poultry processing plants use large volumes of water to clean carcasses, machinery, work surfaces and floors. The wastewater can cause harmful algae blooms, kill swaths of fish and expose local communities to bacteria that cause gastrointestinal illness. By Natasha Gilbert  Slaughterhouses... Continue reading...