FINAL
IC/33
5-Sep-2000
Recommendation on
Best Available Techniques
in the Food Industry
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Recommendation on Best Available Techniques in the Food Industry
The Commission,
recalling Paragraph 1 of Article 2 of the Danube River Protection Convention in which the
Contracting Parties shall strive at achieving the goals of a sustainable and equitable water
management, including the conservation, improvement and the rational use of surface wa-
ters and ground water in the catchment area as far as possible;
recalling also Paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Danube River Protection Convention according
to which the Contracting Parties pursuant to the provisions of this Convention shall cooperate
on fundamental water management issues and take all appropriate legal, administrative and
technical measures, to at least maintain and improve the current environmental and water
quality conditions of the Danube River and of the waters in its catchment area and to prevent
and reduce as far as possible adverse impacts and changes occurring or likely to be caused;
recalling further Paragraph 2 b of Article 5 of the Danube River Protection Convention in
which the Contracting Parties shall separately or jointly adopt legal provisions providing for
requirements including time limits to be met by waste water discharges;
recalling further Paragraph 1 of Article 7 of the Danube River Protection Convention in
which the Contracting Parties taking into account the proposals from the International Com-
mission shall set emission limits applicable to individual industrial sectors or industries in
terms of pollution loads and concentrations and based in the best possible way on low- and
non-waste technologies at source.
Where hazardous substances are discharged, the emission limits shall be based on the best
available techniques for the abatement at source and/or for waste water purification;
recalling further Part 1 of Annex 1 of the Danube River Protection Convention in which best
available techniques are defined;
recommends to the Contracting Parties of the Danube River Protection Convention that the
following measures should be applied in the sectors (see Annex 1) of food industry:
1. Technical In-Plant Measures for the Reduction of Waste Water Volume and
Abatement of Pollution load
Waste water should only be discharged if waste water volume and pollution load are mini-
mised by in-plant measures using best available techniques, i.a.
· automatic control of processes;
· use of vapour condensates for cleaning operations;
· recycling of preheated water from heat exchangers for cleaning operations;
· recycling of low polluted waste waters for cleaning operations;
· multiple use of cleaning waters;
· use of biodegradable cleaning agents;
· decentral cleaning stations in order to shorten the pipes for cleaning agents;
· push away of liquid products in pipes with compressed air and vacuum instead of water;
· control of product losses by continuous waste water sampling and analyses;
· improving the basic production technology for reducing raw material losses;
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· installation of safety mechanisms to prevent overfilling;
· use of peroxyacids instead of chlorine-containing cleaning agents and disinfectants, to
avoid generation of hazardous chlorinated substances;
· mechanical cleaning before cleaning with liquids and desinfection to minimise the use of
cleaning agents and desinfectants;
· controlled discharge of waters containing desinfectants in order to protect subsequent
biological treatment steps;
· collection of product residues for further use, e. g. as feed for animals and fertilisers;
· separate collection and disposal of desinfectant rests and used concentrates;
· separate collection and treatment of fat, blood and nutrients;
· transportation of processed fish and sea products inside a plant preferably without water.



2. Reduction of Pollution Load by End-of-Pipe Measures


After implementation of relevant measures listed under 1., plants of the food industry dis-
charging more than 100 m³/d to water bodies, or to municipal waste water treatment plants
without biological treatment, should meet the following requirements (grab sampling, 2-hour,
8-hour or 24-hour sampling):


COD

250 mg/l

BOD

25 mg/l

tot-P

2 mg/l *)

NH4-N

10 mg/l *) **)


*)
for plants with a raw waste water load more than 20 kg/d tot-P
**) for plants with a raw waste water load more than 100 kg/d tot-N and if
the temperature in biological reactor is above 12 °C
BOD = BOD5 = five-day biochemical oxygen demand consumption with suppression of ni-
trification
COD = CODcr = chemical oxygen demand consumption using the dichromate method


Internationally accepted standardised sampling, analysing and quality assurance methods
(e.g. CEN-standards, ISO-standards, DIN-standards and OECD-Guidelines) should be used
whenever available.


Wherever possible concentration values should be complemented with specific production
orientated load values.



3. Environmental Management Improvement


To improve the environmental management and cooperation between the plant and the per-
mitting environmental authority and other organisations/institutions, in order to implement this
Recommendation, the following measures should be taken:
­ the plant should provide a list of raw materials and chemicals including the quantities and
ecotoxicological properties (safety data sheet) to the responsible environmental authori-
ties;
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­ self-controlling of the plant and its reporting should be specified by the responsible envi-
ronmental authority;
­ the authorities should take into account the promotion of pilot projects in order to establish
examples for other plants;
­ development and exchange of information including the work of branch associations and
research should be intensified.
Recommends also that this Recommendation should be implemented for new plants as
from 1 January 2002 and for existing plants from 1 January 2006;
Recommends further that the Contracting Parties should report (see Annex 2) to the Com-
mission on implementation of this Recommendation in 2003 and thereafter every three
years.
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Annex 1
Sectors of the Food Industry
1)
Breweries
2)
Fish processing industry
3)
Meat industry
4)
Milk processing
5)
Processing of molasses
6)
Processing of oil seed, sweat oil and nutrient fat
7)
Production of alcohol and liquors
8)
Production of feed from plant products
9)
Processing of fruit and vegetable products
10)
Production of hide glue, gelatine and bone glue
11)
Production of malt
12)
Processing of potatoes
13)
Production of refreshing beverages and bottling of beverages
14)
Production of starch
15)
Sugar production
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Annex 2
Reporting Format for Recommendation on Best Available Techniques
in the Food Industry
Country: __________________________ Year: _________________________
The following items have to be reported for every sector (according to Annex 1)
1.
Number of plants in the sector
2.
Overall description of the situation in the sector referring to items 1. (Technical In-
Plant Measures) and 3. (Environmental Management Improvement).
3.
The following data have to be reported for every plant (above 100 m³/d), which dis-
charges into water bodies.
3.1 Name of the plant, its location and the respective water body
3.2 Waste water volume (m³/d, m³/a)
3.3 Discharge concentrations, loads, the mode of sampling (grab, or 2h-, 8h-, or
24h-sampling) and methods of analysis
Concentration
Method of
Specific load
Annual load
mg/l
sampling and
kg/t product
(t/a)
(annual mean)
analysis
(if available)
COD
BOD
NH4-N *)
tot-P **)
*) only for plants above 100 kg/d tot-N raw waste water load
**) only for plants above 20 kg/d tot-P raw waste water load
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