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A European association submitted a novel process and asked the European Commission to approve it as a safe means of disposal under Article 5 (2) (g) of Regulation 1774/2002/EC, i.e. as far as Category 2 material are concerned.
The European Commission asked EFSA to i) assess the ability of the process submitted to safely dispose of Category 2 animal by-products and ii) in case the process is considered to present a risk, to advice on the risks of the use of that process and on possibilities for addressing them. After an information exchange with the applicant it was clarified that the terms of reference of the mandate were focused only on pig and poultry solid manure treatment and that the solid pig manure consisted of dewatered manure.
The application received describes a lime treatment process for dewatered pig and solid poultry manure which could be operated at two different temperatures (60°C and 70°C). The applicant carried out full scale trials in Belgium utilizing quick lime (CaO).
The Panel concluded that the information provided by the applicant is sufficient to show that the mixing of dewatered pig and solid poultry manure with quicklime at the requested exposure time of 30 or 60 minutes, respectively for treatment at 70°C and 60°C at pH 12 meets the requirements for Agent Risk Reduction according to the EFSA 2005 opinion vis-à-vis biological risks of biogas and compost treatment standards of animal by-products[3] . However, the applicant did not give sufficient information to ascertain that in practice the target temperatures and pH are achieved in all part of the stockpile for the sufficient time period.
It was highlighted that this assessment cannot be extended to different equipments, different types of manure and different incubation conditions (i.e. continuous process) than those used in the experimental validation.
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/scdocs/scdoc/1681.htm
