Organic dust in feed industry

Abstract

An important issue for the feed industry is the evaluation of occupational exposure to dust that occurs in processing plant workstations. The most dust-generating processes include milling, crushing, sifting, transporting, and mixing of powdery/loose materials. Organic dusts vary in terms of both the dimensions of the particles therein and microbiological contamination. This article presents the results of an analysis aimed at determining the working conditions at various workstations in a feed plant. Three air measuring points were selected: the comminution stage, the granulation process, and the packing stage. Assessment of the concentration of dust particles suspended in the air was made using the dust meter, and then microbiological analysis was carried out in order to identify the number and species of fungi in the respective fractions of the organic dust. Research on present concentrations of airborne organic dust has led to the conclusion that the highest shortterm exposure concentration of dust was recorded at the granulation stage. The dominant airborne microflora in the feed mill was composed of mould fungi of genus Aspergillus: candidus, flavus, and fumigatus.