This article will cover using bacteria to stop excessive grease buildup. Anything that’s in excess is bad. This is usually the case. Excessive use of natural resources results in their depletion. Excessive eating results in obesity. Excessive violence results in physical injuries. Excessive FOG (fats, oils, grease) results in health and environmental problems.
There’s excessive grease or FOG in the wastewater system in the US because of the excessive food production that takes place. Americans love to eat that’s why you’ll find a food establishment, bog or small, in every corner. Food is a very lucrative industry but business owners have to make sure that they meet or even exceed the standards set. It’s very hard to entice people into patronizing food products while making sure that they remain safe. Manufacturing or preparing food needs a lot of care and consideration. It may be a bit excessive in the US but the excess is only to satisfy the insatiable appetite of the people. Using bacteria to stop excessive grease buildup is an option.
Because of America’s love for eating, food establishments continue to pop up. And while the customers are being satisfied, the FOG crisis worsens. FOG is produced in very large amounts when food is continuously manufactured. Perhaps because of the busy shifting schedules, many food companies neglect paying attention to their grease traps. Before the company owners know it, FOG overflow is traced from their facilities and this serves them with lawsuits, cleaning bills, and penalty fees.
To control the growing FOG problem, every state now strictly implements a pretreatment or grease ordinance. According to the ordinance, the food business owner should have grease traps installed in their facilities to catch all the grease and solid materials that usually come from their kitchens. The business owners should have permits for their grease traps so that these could easily be inspected by the City Sewer Department. The ordinance also mandates the owners to have the small grease traps pumped out every month while the owners of large outdoor/underground grease traps should be pumped out very quarter.
Food establishment owners find it very costly and laborious to pump their grease traps every week. They could just adhere to the set schedules of monthly or every quarter but because they want to prevent lawsuits and fines. It’s bad for business when you get negative press like being a contributor to the worsening FOG problem. The FOG crisis is overwhelming the US. Many companies risk being highly contaminated because of the wastewater backup that happens if they don’t pay attention to the grease traps.
Chemicals and enzymes are the common products used in eliminating grease materials in the grease traps. Upon application, these substances may seem to be potent enough to target and eliminate the grease materials. But these compounds just emulsify the FOG and let it combine with the wastewater that travels through the sewer lines. Eventually, the FOG solidifies in the pipes and blocks the flow of wastewater, resulting to the dreaded backup. Chemicals and enzymes only aggravate the situation more. That’s why they aren’t recommended by grease trap experts.
Using bacteria to stop excessive grease in food establishments is the safest and the fastest means to put a stop to the FOG crisis. Unlike chemicals and enzymes, bacteria are living organisms that consume the FOG and solid wastes, eventually wiping them out. Bioaugmentation is the process that uses a selected strain of bacteria to digest the FOG. Bioremediation uses non-pathogenic bacteria in converting the solid wastes and FOG into less detrimental substances.
It can really be expensive for the food companies to have their grease traps on a weekly basis but with the help of bacteria, the frequency or cleaning the grease traps can be cut down. Cleaning bills could also be lowered. It’s really more practical to use bacteria in stopping excessive grease. With a better maintenance routine for grease traps, the FOG crisis could be eliminated in just s short period of time. Truly the simplest things could bring about the most complex changes. Remember, using bacteria to stop excessive grease buildup is an option.