Using biosolids from agricultural processing as food for animals

A diverse inventory of secondary products arise from processing of agricultural commodities. Societal, economic and physical constraints will curtail traditional disposal methods and create a need for alternatives that conserve, recycle and capitalize on these underutilized resources. Economic viability of some processes or primary products may depend upon practical alternatives for disposing of secondary products. The broad nature of secondary products and the process from which they emanate along with the complex transformations needed for remediation will require the efforts of multidisciplinary teams of scientists to identify creative solutions. Most secondary products have significant nutritional value and could be fed to animals as a means of disposal. However, detailed chemical and biological characterization is needed to determine nutrient concentrations and to ensure safety and efficacy. Feeding studies will be necessary to demonstrate palatability and to determine effects upon animal health and performance. New bioprocessing techniques will be needed to remediate the attributes of some secondary products into more appropriate forms or qualities. The potential for using wash water biosolids as animal food was investigated. Wash water biosolids from a broad cross section of food processing plants were found to be free from pollutants and other harmful entities. Nutrient composition variedmore » considerably within and among different types of food processing plants (i.e., milk vs poultry). However, within a particular plant, variation in mineral concentration of biosolids over several months was quite small. Wash water biosolids from a milk processing plant were found to be free of pollutants and to have nutritional value. Diets containing biosolids were palatable when fed to sheep, cows, turkeys, or swine. Safety and efficacy studies with sheep and swine indicated that feeding up to 20% biosolids did not adversely affect growth, reproduction or survival.« less