The boiling phenomnon in formic acid preserved poultry by-products

Summary

Formic acid preserved poultry by-products has become an important ingredient in Norwegian fur animal feed. Occasinally this semi-liquid product tends to overrun tanks during transport owing to gas coming from the mass. This so called "boiling" phenomenon casues practical problems cleaning up and somtimes destruction of the product. This study showed that Clostridia may be responsible for the significant gas production and that hydrogen gas production derived by Clostridia bacteria play an important role in the overrunning. The findings suggest that formic acid prserved poultry by-products should be handled with caution, since it may represent a health risk related to exposure tp pathogenic Clostridia and secondly, because of the occurance of hydrogen, which is highly explosive. The use of additives as sodium bisulphite (0.5 %, which may have an inhibitory effect on gas production can be a future solution to the boiling phenomenon.