Investigations on occupational hazards in a kitchen waste treatment plant / 中华劳动卫生职业病杂志

Objective@#To explore the distribution and intensity of kitchen waste treatment plant, providing scientific basis for occupational diseases prevention and treatment in that industry.@*Methods@#30 operating personnel in a kitchen waste disposal enterprise were selected as the research group and 16 non-operating personnel as the control group. The epidemiological survey was carried out in June 2015 and July 2016, and the results of occupational hazards and occupational health monitoring during 2015 to 2017 were analyzed.@*Results@#The results of various occupational hazards factors during 2015 to 2017 were all in accordance with the occupational health limit, but the results of occupational health examination were abnormal. The occupational correlation could not be ruled out by the abnormality of electrical audiometry, electrocardiogram and Department of Dermatology examination.@*Conclusion@#Workers in kitchen waste treatment plant are likely to suffer low-intensity, continuous health damage. There is occupational health risk in that industry. The accumulation of basic information and the improvement of relevant standards and methods are needed for further study.

Development of a novel compound microbial agent for degradation of kitchen waste

Abstract Large quantities of kitchen waste are produced in modern society and its disposal poses serious environmental and social problems. The aim of this study was to isolate degradative strains from kitchen waste and to develop a novel and effective microbial agent. One hundred and four strains were isolated from kitchen waste and the 84 dominant strains were used to inoculate protein-, starch-, fat- and cellulose-containing media for detecting their degradability. Twelve dominant strains of various species with high degradability (eight bacteria, one actinomycetes and three fungi) were selected to develop a compound microbial agent "YH" and five strains of these species including H7 (Brevibacterium epidermidis), A3 (Paenibacillus polymyxa), E3 (Aspergillus japonicus), F9 (Aspergillus versicolor) and A5 (Penicillium digitatum), were new for kitchen waste degradation. YH was compared with three commercial microbial agents-"Tiangeng" (TG), "Yilezai" (YLZ) and Effective Microorganisms (EM), by their effects on reduction, maturity and deodorization. The results showed that YH exerted the greatest efficacy on mass loss which decreased about 65.87% after 14 days. The agent inhibited NH3 and H2S emissions significantly during composting process. The concentration of NH3 decreased from 7.1 to 3.2 ppm and that of H2S reduced from 0.7 to 0.2 ppm. Moreover, E4/E6 (Extinction value460nm/Extinction value665nm) of YH decreased from 2.51 to 1.31, which meant YH had an obvious maturity effect. These results highlighted the potential application of YH in composting kitchen waste.

Anaerobic bacterial degradation of kitchen waste - a review.

Kitchen (food waste) was collected from hostels of Cancer Hospital & Research Institute (CHRI), Gwalior’s Mess as feedstock for bio-reactor which works as anaerobic digester system to produce biogas energy. Production of biogas ,used as energy source, will be more cost effective, eco-friendly, cut down on landfill waste, generate a high-quality renewable fuel, and reduce CH4 and CO2 emissions, and also bio-fertilizer which contains beneficial bacterial community. This bacterial community plays a major role in the regulation of soil properties on the basis of their biological activity. The absence of oxygen leads to controlled conversion of complex organic pollutions, mainly CH4 and CO2. Anaerobic treatment has favourable effects like removal of higher organic concentration, low sludge production, high pathogen removal, high biogas gas production and low energy consumption. The continuously fed digester requires addition of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) to maintain the alkalinity and pH at 7.0. For this purpose, we have prepared an excellent bacterial community which is applied into mixture of cow dung slurry along with the kitchen waste in bioreactor for CH4 production in large quantity. A combination of these, an excellent bacterial community, was used for biogas production at 37°C in small scale laboratory reactor of 10L capacity.

Edible oil safety in Shanghai catering service / 上海预防医学

[Objective] To investigate the purchase and use of edible oil , as well as recycling of kitchen waste oil in Shanghai catering service units , providing reference for relevant regulatory authorities . <br> [ Methods] A total of 976 units of various types of catering service in Shanghai were selected via strati-fied sampling methodology , a self-designed questionnaire used to investigate the purchase and use of edi-ble oil, as well as recycling of kitchen waste oil .Meanwhile, an on-site rapid detection technology was used to test items including acid value , peroxide value , polar components of unused pre -packaged edible oil and also the process of using frying oils on site . [ Results] The amount of edible oil used in catering service units of Shanghai was about 1235 tons per day;6.0% of the oil purchased was bulk cooking oil , which accounted for 5 .6%of the total amount consumed;44 .3%of the catering service units signed with professional companies for the recycling of kitchen waste oil;3615 samples were detected using an on -site rapid detection , of which 17 were suspected to be positive .The lab confirmed that test results were quali-fied. [ Conclusion] The edible oil used in Shanghai catering service units is safe in general , while bulk cooking oil may have potential safety hazards .Food practitioners have low awareness of health risk caused <br> by using edible oil repeatedly and for too long time , which makes some enterprise use “old oil” for too long;There does exist the possibility of kitchen waste oil returning to food chain as its recycling has not been standardized .