RESEARCH NEWS

SAFETY RESEARCH

Georgia Tech Receives OSHA Grant to Develop Safety Training Program for Third-Shift Poultry Processing Workers

Georgia Tech was recently awarded a Susan Harwood Grant by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop a comprehensive safety training program for third-shift sanitation and maintenance workers in the poultry processing industry.

Poultry Industry Efforts Help Deliver Best Safety Record Ever

According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the rate at which injuries and illnesses occur among poultry processing workers in the United States has reached its lowest level ever and is below the rate found in food manufacturing in general and not far below manufacturing as a whole.

Prototype Sensor Under Development to Automatically Detect Chlorine Levels in Poultry Chiller Water

Each year the U.S. poultry industry processes 20 billion pounds of chicken. In one of the closing steps in first-processing, eviscerated and defeathered carcasses are dropped into an immersion chiller, which rapidly chills the carcasses to 40 °F or below. To further ensure microbiological safety, processors also add chlorine to sanitize and disinfect the chiller water. Because varying levels of chlorine can affect product quality and taste as well as disinfection efficiency, the chiller water must be constantly monitored.

Repetitive Stress: Improved EWAS Takes Aim at Worker Injuries

By Gary Goettling

New technology is helping position an old injury-prevention research tool developed for the poultry industry at the cutting edge of in situ biomechanical monitoring.

Vision-Based Screening System Detects Liner Material in Processed Foods

Plastic liners and casings are used throughout the beef and poultry industries to ensure ingredients remain fresh and that meat does not come into contact with surfaces of cardboard or plastic containers that may harbor pathogens. Sometimes, despite extensive precautions, a part of a liner can tear off and become mixed in with a processed food. Liner pieces are particularly difficult to detect because they are often small, either transparent or nearly transparent, and coated with food product or the ingredient that was initially packaged in the container. Food processors have long sought a method to automatically detect these materials in processed food.

New Year’s Resolution: A Better Approach to Food Safety Inspection?

By Al Yancy

As we move into the holiday season, one traditionally takes stock of the year that was, and begins to look forward to the coming year with wonder. It seems fitting then, to take a few moments to reflect back on what 2007 meant for regulatory food safety, and to attempt to predict where 2008 may take us.

Poultry Industry and OSHA Sign Workplace Safety Agreement

In mid-November, the National Chicken Council (NCC) and National Turkey Federation (NTF) signed a voluntary agreement with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to improve safety in the workplace through worker training, communication outreach, and information sharing. Under terms of the agreement, companies in the chicken and turkey industries will work together with OSHA to implement a new alliance on worker safety, with particular emphasis on machinery hazards.

Did You Know?

Next year, the Agricultural Technology Research Program (ATRP) turns 35. The program began in 1973 when a legislative conference committee (responding to a request by the Georgia Poultry Federation) appropriated $100,000 to be contracted to Georgia Tech through the Georgia Department of Agriculture. A year later, the program was continued when the General Assembly agreed to give the Georgia Department of Agriculture regular line funding to continue the contract activity. In 1981, line funding for the program was transferred to the Board of Regents for direct allocation to Georgia Tech under the name “Agricultural Research Program” (ARP). Eight years later, ARP officially became ATRP.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH

Gaining New Ground on Biodiesel Conversion Efficiency

Growing concerns over global warming coupled with increasing crude oil prices have sparked national interest in alternative fuel sources. Many think that a biofuels boom-and-bust scenario is under way because so many start-ups have entered the market and oil prices are volatile. But any breakthrough in one of three areas will dramatically enhance the viability of biofuels. Those areas are identifying feedstock materials that do not compete with food processing needs, improving conversion efficiencies, and finding better ways to get more energy out per pound while using less energy. Researchers at Georgia Tech are focusing on improving conversion efficiencies.

The Economics of Biofuels
John Pierson

As the nation continues its debate over the role of biofuels in helping it achieve greater energy independence, more attention is being given to economic and environmental considerations. Recent spikes in biofuel production have brought increased demand on agricultural production which, in turn, has driven up food costs. Many are now questioning whether crop-based fuels can cost-effectively increase energy independence.

Georgia Tech Students Study Biodiesel Production Using Algae

This past spring, Caroline McDougald and a group of classmates in the Georgia Tech School of Industrial and Systems Engineering spent a week in the Food Processing Technology Division’s Environmental Lab testing whether or not biodiesel could be made using algae as the feedstock. As part of an Energy Technology and Policy course requirement, McDougald and the others had to complete a research project on alternative energy sources.

High School Student Produces Homemade Biodiesel Using Restaurant Fryer Oil

Danny Carpenter was just engaging in one of his favorite past times, reading the latest issue of Transworld Snowboarding magazine, when he ran across an article about a professional snowboarder who drove across the country in a truck fueled by vegetable oil. Amazed that such a feat was possible, Danny and his dad Rick spent the next year reading anything and everything they could lay their hands on to do with biodiesel production.

Defining Strategies to Control Storm Water Runoff from Poultry Processing Facilities

Working with poultry processors, Georgia Tech researchers are seeking to help establish a strategy for easily measuring the cleanliness of impervious surfaces in containment areas to allow facilities to more readily establish compliance with storm water runoff fecal contamination limits.

Industrial Storm Water Permit Reminder

Facilities sampling under the special conditions associated with impaired streams section of the GAR000000 permit (Part III.C) must submit the Annual Report no later than December 31, 2007 (and annually thereafter). All other facilities must submit the Annual Report no later than October 31, 2008 (and on an annual basis thereafter). If you are unsure or have any questions, contact John Pierson at (404) 407-8839 or john.pierson@gtri.gatech.edu or Mike Giles at (770) 532-0473 or mike@gafp.org.

Researchers Develop Process to Recover Eggshell Waste for Alternative Uses

Georgia Tech researchers have successfully developed a novel separation technology and built a pilot-scale separation facility to recover calcium carbonate from eggshells for commercial use. The project, funded by Georgia’s Traditional Industries Program for Food Processing, is in the final year of a multi-year effort focused on developing an alternative to landfills that extracts value-added byproducts from eggshell waste. More than 37 million pounds of eggshells are landfilled each year in the state.

A Look at the Department of Homeland Security’s Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standard and Its Impact on Poultry Processors and Growers
John Starkey, vice president of Environmental Programs for the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued new regulations that require companies to assess the risk of their facilities to terroristic attack, and, if appropriate, take steps to mitigate that risk.

Changing Environmental and Energy Climate Creates New Opportunities for Electric Boilers and Water Heaters

There was a time when anyone in the poultry business would label food safety and animal welfare as the top two priorities for the industry. However, these days it is hard to have that same conversation without someone mentioning the impact that environmental controls will have in the near future.

Bringing the Research Lab to the Classroom

Berkil Alexander, a Physics teacher at Cobb County’s Pebblebrook High School, recently completed a seven-week GIFT Fellowship with Georgia Tech’s Food Processing Technology Division (FPTD). Georgia Intern-Fellowships for Teachers or GIFT is designed to enhance mathematics and science experiences of Georgia teachers and their students. GIFT teachers are involved in cutting edge scientific research, data analysis, curriculum development, and real-world inquiry and problem solving. The program is administered through Georgia Tech’s Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics and Computing (CEISMC).

AUTOMATION RESEARCH

Researchers Design Washdown-Ready Robot to Pack Fresh Meat into Trays

With funding from Georgia’s Traditional Industries Program for Food Processing, Georgia Tech researchers have embarked on an R&D initiative to build a robot that can not only withstand high-pressure washdown but also deliver the speeds and performance needed to meet current processing throughput requirements.

Building “Smart” Deboning Systems

In an effort to address the poultry industry’s challenge to automate the deboning process, Georgia Tech researchers are developing a “smart” deboning system. The system uses computer vision and other sensing technologies to recognize and react to size and shape differences of a chicken carcass in order to perform precision cuts that optimize yield (the amount of meat removed from the bone) while reducing the risk of bone fragments in finished product.

Seeing the Unseen: Infrared computer vision system could help make meat products safer, tastier, and less costly to produce
Jane M. Sanders

An initial GTRI study funded by Georgia’s Food Processing Advisory Council (FoodPAC) focused on using IR technology to measure the mean surface temperature and then estimate the core temperature of meat products as they come out of industrial ovens. GTRI senior research engineer John Stewart led that project, which included a field study of GTRI’s IR computer vision system at a Gold Kist plant in Boaz, Ala.

Emerging Labor-Saving Technology Trends for Poultry Processing Operations

J. Craig Wyvill, chief of the Food Processing Technology Division of the Georgia Tech Research Institute and an expert in poultry processing and production trends, discusses emerging technology trends that will help the poultry industry further reduce labor costs and increase processing efficiency.

Researchers Make Progress in Design of Non-Robotic System for Chiller Rehang

Over the past year, researchers with Georgia Tech’s Agricultural Technology Research Program (ATRP) have made significant strides in their quest to develop a non-robotic system for rehanging birds exiting an immersion chiller onto a transfer shackle line. In so doing, they are helping to automate a process that is limiting processing efficiencies in many poultry processing plants.

Electrode Boiler Integral to Mar-Jac’s Feed Mill Efficiency

Efficiency in the poultry business is paramount. If the production process is not improved to operate efficiently, costs will rise and ultimately, consumers will be asked to pay more at the supermarket – a risk Mar-Jac is not willing to take. The electrode boiler is 99 percent efficient and costs approximately $5,000 a year to maintain. Additionally, its footprint is only 200 square feet, thus freeing up space in the mill.