Stay Proactive to Prepare for Future Protein Industry Regulation Updates

In September 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rejected a proposed regulation significantly changing existing Effluent Limitations Guidelines, or ELGs, and pretreatment standards for the meat and poultry products (protein) industry, citing priorities to protect food supply and mitigate inflationary prices. 

Even though federal standards and guidelines remain the same for now, HDR’s industry experts suggest taking a proactive versus reactive approach to future more stringent standards, noting that state and local regulations will likely become stricter. To understand more about what could be coming and what you can do to prepare, we sat down with Industrial Water/Wastewater Leader Matt Bokenkroger, who specializes in industrial wastewater treatment for food processors. 

Who would be affected with state and local regulatory changes?  

New state and local regulations will likely expand existing guidelines for direct dischargers and establish pretreatment standards to both small facilities and facilities that discharge indirectly through publicly owned treatment works, or POTWs. Three significant impacts expected include: 

• Significantly reduced total nitrogen effluent limits for direct dischargers.
• New total phosphorus effluent limits for direct dischargers.
• New requirements for indirect dischargers focusing on screening, flow equalization, improved grease removal and nutrient removals.

This won’t happen overnight, so meat and poultry processors that work proactively to upgrade facilities can stay ahead and avoid rushing to comply. 

What could these requirements mean for the industry?

We think stricter rules are coming that will disrupt the industry even though the more stringent EPA regulation has been withdrawn. Many protein plants will have to revamp a lot of what they’ve done for years, and it would likely be costly. That could mean adding or expanding pretreatment systems and expanding or adding processes to reduce the contaminants. Many processors we work with have old and outdated equipment and will need to look at completely new wastewater treatment plants.

This could keep the industry busy for the next 10-20 years. I would say about 5% to 8% of the plants out there right now would have been equipped for the now-withdrawn EPA regulations, and that’s mostly because they are already complying with stricter state or local regulations. For example, processors in the Chesapeake Bay in the mid-Atlantic are working within very low standards for nitrogen and phosphorus in their effluents.

What should meat and poultry processors be doing now? 

They can start by understanding their current systems and having a plan in place to address regulations — federal or not — when they are released. That means beginning at a conceptual level and identifying avenues to reduce or treat contaminants in their wastewater. 

In many cases, this type of work is what we’ve been doing at HDR for many years, and the regulations would force us to take it to another level in terms of water quality. Stringent wastewater treatment is our team’s bread and butter. 

To prepare industry clients for upcoming regulations, we’re conducting engineering studies, analysis and testing that gives clients an idea of potential costs and timelines for any modifications. We’re answering questions for industry clients like, “What is the capacity of this system? Can we do more with what we have? How many years does this system have left?” We can also help design and implement plans. That could look like completely new pretreatment options — for example, anaerobic digestion — or helping through compliance and operation services.