Membranes?

I found this story quite confusing yet oddly fascinating. It's from Water and Wastes Digest. A pub I did not know existed. There really is a newsletter for everything. (There was a link to this story in a marketing e-letter.)

Membrane Sales for Food & Beverage Processing to Reach $230 Million by 2011
August 4, 2006

According to a new technical market research report, Membrane Technology for Food and Beverage Processing (MST030B) from BCC Research, membrane sales for food and beverage processors will reach $185 million in 2006. At an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of about 4.6% through 2011, the market should reach the $230 million mark...

Manufacturers are placing increased emphasis on using membrane methods to replace functions formerly performed by chemical processing. One area of focus is removing or minimizing problems associated with diatomaceous earth (DE) in beverage processing. Substituting membranes for DE in these applications contributes to a more positive environmental impact, protects the health and safety of the labor force, and more efficiently and economically resolves maintenance and disposal issues...

Shudder. I just finished listening to Don't Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America by Morgan Spurlock (of "Supersize Me"). It was full of reasons why not to eat processed or fast food. Cleanliness or lack thereof, treatment and feeding of animals (cows eating ground up cows, that's wrong), energy consumed by production, treatment of workers, the continual sitting of most Americans, etc. So many reasons to say No! Membranes, however, has put me over the edge.