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Quality of Water Available for Use in Food Industry
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Monday, 30 December, 2019, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Sanjay Indani, Khushbu Shah
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During the 2011 census, India entered the league of water-deficient nations. A nation is considered water-deficient if the per capita availability falls below 1,700 cubic metre per person. The per capita water availability that fell by 15% during the first decade of this century to 1,545 cubic metre per person, will be below 1,400 cubic metre per person in summer. Additionally, the challenge remains not only to the general population but also to the industry.
Water is a major ingredient
Water availability is one of the concerns to the food industry as food processing industry uses a huge amount of water. And if water is available, the quality of water is the next challenge to be handled by the industry. Water used in food processing and production should be free from any impurities. In many foods, water is a major ingredient. In addition, water is used for cooking ingredients, such as vegetables and for cooling cooked foods.
Water also plays a major role in cleaning both for preparing the appropriate dilutions of detergents, sanitisers, and disinfectants, and also for rinsing off the cleaning chemicals. Toilets and hand washing stations also need significant quantities of water. Good quality potable water is essential throughout the food and catering industries. To achieve this, there must be stringent water management throughout the food premises and this requires close monitoring. Ensuring and maintaining the quality of water and preventing its contamination at source and throughout its use are of paramount importance.
Food producers, processors and caterers need to ensure that the use of water in their premises is maintained to the highest possible standards. Water is used for many operations and all operatives and contractors must be adequately trained in appropriate water usage and the controls needed to ensure that water does not become a source of contamination. The contamination could result in the food being contaminated with pathogens, spoilage microorganisms, and chemicals such as heavy metals and tainting chemicals. There are many published guidelines which set microbial and chemical quality targets for potable water which should be referred to as indicated in this document.
Low-quality water used in food items like cut fruits and vegetables, can also produce negative effects. Chances of off-colours, mal odours and existent undesirable chemicals could contaminate the product.
For these reasons, water monitoring and preparation are crucial in meeting high quality standards for the products in which it is used.
However, it might be less important if water is being used as a processing tool. Low-quality water used in utilities can damage the equipment due to water alkalinity, pH and dissolved oxygen content.
Also, operational efficiency can be highly impacted due to sediment clogging in the equipment and preventing proper water flow. Chemicals and organics can cause corrosion of metal surfaces, while minerals cause lime scale buildup, reducing equipment efficiency, which eventually results in a total breakdown.
Water contamination
Physical hazards derived from incoming water are usually controlled by filtration (if necessary), and its effectiveness can be monitored by turbidity measurements.
Chemical hazards include organic compounds, many contaminants (e.g. pesticides) and elements (e.g. heavy metals), which are mentioned in detail in the Indian standards, EU drinking water directive and mentioned WHO guidelines.
Biological hazards not only include the organisms of concern, but also the consequences of their presence, e.g., toxin formation by some types of algae. Waterborne microorganisms potentially causing illness include bacteria, viruses, protozoa and helminthes. The resistance / susceptibility of those organisms to commonly used treatments and the way of transmission needs to be considered to ensure water quality.
Water has been increasingly looked at as a valuable resource and its quality (and in this respect also safety) cannot be taken as granted. This has also been recognised by requiring the application of HACCP principles in the water usage. Potential physical, chemical and biological hazards introduced by water shall be adequately controlled, which necessitates water treatment when entering a food plant in many cases to ensure potable (drinking) water quality where needed.
In case non-potable water is used, it shall be evaluated as part of the HACCP studies to ensure that it would not pose a risk for production, and has no negative effect on personnel. For a comprehensive reading about hazards related to incoming water, reference is made to the WHO guidelines (In India IS 10500:2012) for drinking water quality.
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specifies water standards in India for various purposes. Drinking water, potable water, and domestic use water quality standards must comply with IS: 10500; water used in the food processing industry must follow standards as per IS: 4251; water for irrigation and recreational purposes (i.e., in swimming pools), the standards must be as per IS: 3328; and packaged drinking water standards need to be IS: 14543 compliant. BIS also deems it necessary that drinking water sources be tested regularly to ensure compliance and to further understand specific water treatment needs.
According to some scientific research, 16% of fresh water consumption in industrial nations is water for industrial supply. The rising concern over continued availability of high quality fresh water and the need for minimising pollution of the environment have resulted in increasing costs for clean water and, in particular, for discharge of waste water. Reuse of water has, become an important issue also within industry.
Reuse of water in the food industry is attracting much attention due to the increasing cost of water and water discharge. A major obstacle for extensive reuse is the associated risk of microbiological contamination of food and the production environment. A hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) based generic model has, therefore, been elaborated for implementation and evaluation of systems for the reuse of water in the food industry. The model includes information on food- and water-borne pathogens and their sensitivity towards various water treatment methods.
In general, water quality controls should start at the source, and also include the review of incoming / used municipal water supplies. The history of drinking water supplies should also be taken into account, e.g., known outbreaks related to the water supply or boil water notices, when considering treatment options to ensure water quality.
Additionally, Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) being recommended, were first proposed in the 1980s for drinking water treatment and later were widely studied for treatment of different waste waters. During the AOP treatment of wastewater, hydroxyl radicals (OH) or sulfate radicals (SO4) are generated in sufficient quantity to remove refractory organic matters, traceable organic contaminants, or certain inorganic pollutants, or to increase wastewater biodegradability as a pre-treatment prior to an ensuing biological treatment.
(Indani is food safety expert & trainer and Shah is sr manager at SafeFoodz Solutions. They can be reached at safefoodz@gmail.com)
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