Hey Foodies!

So what exactly contributes to food pollution? As many people often do not dig deeper to find out how and where the foods on their plate come from, this question of how their food pollutes the environment often goes unanswered. Food pollution is contributed by both Agriculture and Livestock, which we will be covering in this post (Lindwall, 2020).

Let us begin by understanding the nature of food pollution. This form of pollution often involves organic pollutants, which seek to degrade the environment. These pollutants are from organic waste generated by plant debris and animal wastes, which breaks down in the natural environment through sun, heat, and natural degradation. However, with global rising demands and the expansion of the agricultural and livestock industry, these wastes often overwhelm the biological system. Thus, resulting in an imbalance where waste is released at a much higher rate than what the natural system can break down. Therefore, leading to the degradation of land, air, and water (Hill, 2010).

Fig 1. Eutrophication of Lake Due to Agricultural Practices. Obtained from: https://followgreenliving.com/eutrophication-nature-replies/

 

Firstly, agriculture produces several types of pollutants in its process. These include pesticides in agriculture, nitrogen-based fertilizers, plastic pollutions, and nutrients run-off (Li, 2011). The mismanagement of these pollutants is the key reason why agriculture contributes heavily to water pollution, especially when released into nearby rivers and lakes. These pollutants can therefore lead to the degradation of water, causing large-scale algae blooms through eutrophication. As a result, this can cause oxygen deprivation for many of the original inhabitants of the ecosystems. Therefore, damaging the ecosystem in the process (Ansari et-al, 2011). Moreover, the clearing of large forested areas, which are essential carbon ‘sinks’, to create space for agricultural production, also contributes heavily to releasing greenhouse gases(GHG), exacerbating global warming (Ritchie and Roser, 2020).

 

Fig.2 Decomposition of Livestock Waste Products. Obtained from: https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/air-pollution-from-agriculture-eu

 

Secondly, another source of food pollution comes from the raising of livestock. Livestock production can often result in water pollution in the case of improper management of livestock waste and air pollution due to the decomposition of waste and antibiotic resistance (Lindwall, 2019). The release of GHG, such as ammonia and methane, from the rearing of livestock, is one major contributor to global GHG emissions (Animal Production and Health Division, n.d.). Furthermore, animals’ farming is often an inefficient transfer of energy, which results in a more-than increase in pollution per waste compared to agriculture.

 

 Fig 3. Aquaculture Pond, Excess Feeding of Food causing Water Pollution. Obtained from: https://www.aquaculturealliance.org/advocate/aquaculture-feed-composition-helps-define-potential-water-pollution/

Lastly, another form of livestock will be that of aquaculture. Aquaculture, similarly to that of livestock production, causes water pollution through a mirage of factors. Such factors can come in the form of aquaculture wastes, where waste discharge from the fishes and uneaten fish food can decompose and decrease the water quality. Also, with the production of some saltwater fishes, it can cause land pollution when a large amount of salt is allowed to penetrate the soil layer. Lastly, aquaculture becomes a regional and global problem when the wastewater derived from aquaculture is discharged into the ocean. With the addition of Nitrogen and Phosphorus rich nutrients into many water sources, the same eutrophication problem that agriculture pollution creates can occur and intensifies pollution (Cao et-al, 2007).

Therefore, through our investigations, we can understand the primary forms of pollution brought about by food. Their source can help identify these pollutants where agriculture, livestock production, or aquaculture are the primary sources of pollution, each with their contributions to pollution.

 

That will be it for today, and in the next posts, we will be finding out in-depth how each of these sources contributes to pollution!

 

Detectives Out,

Wen Hong & Linying

 

References

Animal Production and Health Division. (n.d.) Pollution from industrialized livestock production. FAO. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/3/a-a0261e.pdf

Ansari, A. A., Sarvajeet, S. G., Lanza, G. R., & Rast, W. (2010). Eutrophication: Causes, consequences and control. Springer.

Cao L, Wang W, Yang Y, Yang C, Yuan Z, Xiong S, Diana J (2007): Environmental Impact of Aquaculture and Countermeasures to Aquaculture Pollution in China. Env Sci Pollut Res 14 (7) 452–462

Hill, M. K. (2010). Understanding environmental pollution (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Li, X. D. (2011). A study on environmental pollution of agriculture and countermeasures under the double failure. Energy Procedia, 5, 204-208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2011.03.036

Lindwall, C. (2020, February 05). Industrial Agricultural Pollution 101. Retrieved September 13, 2020, from https://www.nrdc.org/stories/industrial-agricultural-pollution-101

Ritchie, H. and Roser, M. (2020, Jan). Environmental impacts of food production. Our World in Data. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impacts-of-food