Location: Quality and Safety Assessment Research Unit
Project Number: 6040-42440-001-020-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 22, 2025
End Date: Sep 21, 2029
Objective:
1. Develop wastewater treatment systems that recover nutrients and produce water suitable for food crop irrigation
2. Develop new processes to extract value from poultry processing solid wastes from dissolved air flotation units while minimizing nuisance odors
3. Determine how poultry processing systems impact food safety, meat quality, sensory characteristics, and consumer willingness to pay for poultry products.
Approach:
We will use a pilot scale treatment system to convert nutrients in poultry processing wastewater into forms that are available to plants. Currently, most poultry processing wastewater is discharged to sewers where it is treated for nutrient removal (e.g. converting nitrogen to nitrogen gas an releasing it into the atmosphere). Here, we aim to retain nutrients in the water and use it for irrigation, reducing the cost of treatment for poultry processors while also providing valuable fertilizer to farmers. We will experiment with varying the extent of biological treatment for production of hydroponic and soil-based crops. Wetland treatment systems are also being developed for the treatment of post-hydroponic water.
Multiple strategies will be developed to valorize poultry processing solids from dissolved air flotation (DAF) units which are widely used in the industry. Currently, most of these DAF solids are land applied and cause severe nuisance odors for rural communities. The first strategy being developed is to feed DAF solids to black soldier fly larvae to upcycle this material back into poultry feed. The second strategy is to feed DAF solids to microorganisms that can convert it into biogas (energy) or animal feed products. The third approach is to develop better land application methods for DAF that significantly reduce nuisance odors.
A multidisciplinary approach will be utilized to focus on specific aspects of poultry processing to enhance poultry processing food safety and sustainability. We will determine the impact of poultry processing systems on changes in physiological responses, foodborne contaminants, meat quality, shelf life, sensory attributes and consumer perceptions. Broiler chickens will be processed using varying methods for stunning, scalding/defeathering, evisceration, and chilling, with and without processing aids and evaluated for the changes in the pH, sarcomere shortening, calpain-cathepsin system as well as effects on texture, myosin degradation, water holding capacity and yield of fresh and further processed products (batter breaded and fried, baked etc.) during storage. Effects of processing systems on the antioxidant ability as well as lipid oxidation (TSARS and fatty acid profile) will be analyzed. Mathematical equations will be built using the data to predict the effects of variable processing methods on meat quality. Evaluation and optimization will be conducted through analysis of meat quality and shelf life of both raw and cooked products using quantitative evaluation methods, descriptive trained sensory panels, naive consumer panels, and electronic nose. Consumer perceptions of the impact of processing methods on chicken welfare and product quality and willingness to pay will be investigated using a conjoint analysis based on online surveys and/ or in-person interviews.