CleanSmoke helps to actively protect this vital resource
The motto of World Water Day this year is “Value of Water”. More than about monetary value, it is about appreciating the high environmental, social and cultural value of water more. The use of CleanSmoke smoking technology can actively support this goal. The same applies to the German government’s new “Water: N” research program. This is intended to promote the development of innovative environmental solutions and contribute to the fulfillment of global sustainability goals.
CleanSmoke can save around 90 percent water compared to conventional smoking methods. CleanSmoke is a smoking technology in which a stable smoke is freshly produced from pre-cleaned primary smoke condensate. Not least because of its environmental relevance, the European Union has named the technology “Best Available Technique” for food production.
CleanSmoke uses less than one-seventh of the water
According to calculations by the German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL), smokehouses using CleanSmoke use around 37 liters of water per ton of food smoked to clean their equipment. Indirect water consumption for plant growth and logging is about seven liters. In contrast, conventional smoking with friction or smoldering smoke uses 301 liters of water per ton of meat for cleaning and about 38 liters for growth and harvesting, according to DIL.
If all smokehouses in Germany used CleanSmoke, consumption for cleaning the smokehouses would be around 66,000 cubic meters (m3) of water, a good 15 percent of which is used for raw material production. Indirect consumption for irrigation, on the other hand, is relatively low at 6,800 m3. In conventional smoking, both direct consumption for cleaning and indirect consumption for plant irrigation are significantly greater, at 545,000 and just under 357,000 m3, respectively.
Thus, according to the DIL, 479,000 m3 of water could be saved in cleaning the smoking plants alone. This is how much large cities like Kiel or Gelsenkirchen consume in a year. Added to this would be another 350,000 m3 of water that could be saved within the supply chain. That is the amount needed to produce cotton for jeans and T-shirts by 35,000 people.
Call for mandatory labeling for environmentally friendly production
Not least because of this enormous savings potential, the CleanSmoke Coalition is calling for products smoked with CleanSmoke to be labeled as resource-saving. The CleanSmoke Coalition (CSC), a joint initiative of primary smoke product manufacturers, food producers and retailers, aims to educate consumers and interested members of the public about the benefits of CleanSmoke technology.
The use of CleanSmoke also reduces the burden on wastewater: fewer cleaning agents and chemicals. And this contributes noticeably to better water quality. Every year, 2,600 tons less cleaning agents and 40 tons less chemicals would have to be treated in Germany alone. This not only reduces the expenses of smokehouses for cleaning, but also saves municipalities immense costs for water treatment. Studies in Denmark found that a smokehouse with about 100 tons of weekly production uses about 15 percent less detergent. The savings are about 1,600 euros a month. Another approx. 1,000 euros for unnecessary cleaning work would be added. Smokehouses could therefore show today that they have long since recognized the true value of water by switching to CleanSmoke.