EFFECT OF FOOD PRESERVATIVES ON SOLID ORGANIC WASTE DEGRADATION PROCESS

Biodegradable wastes contains Food waste (FW) (both precooked and leftover) is discharged from various sources including food processing industries, households, and hospitality sector are waste materials easily degraded or broken down naturally by biotic factors (bacteria, fungi, plants, animals, etc.) This process enables complex substances to be broken down into simpler organic compounds which subsequently fade into the soil. This is a natural process that could be prolonged or rapid depends upon chemical composition waste, pH, temperature, oxygen, humidity and also depends upon any inhibitory chemical present in waste or not. One of that inhibitory chemical is food preservatives which are intentionally added to inhibit the growth of microorganism responsible for spoilage of that food product and ultimately for increase the shelf life of that food product. When that food product is leftover or expired, it will be part of solid waste .Preservatives added to packed food may inhibit the growth of microorganism active in natural degradation of waste. Due to this period of degradation, size of solid waste increased .This increase in solid waste generation poses numerous questions concerning the adequacy of conventional waste management systems and their environmental effects.