Up to 20 Million Chickens Ate Tainted Pet Food, Still On Farms
Reuters is reporting that 20 million more chickens may have eaten contaminated pet food and may still be waiting to be slaughtered. Officials will decide if they can be released into the human food supply. This makes sense in light of the “hundreds” of chicken plants that may have been contaminated, according to the FDA.
The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Friday as many as 20 million chickens currently on U.S. farms in several states may have been fed contaminated feed.
A USDA official said the birds must be held until the government can complete a risk assessment to determine if they can be processed.
This news raises the questions: Just how much “salvage” pet food was produced that could contaminate so much of our food supply? Where did all this food come from? And where is the recalled food going?
(Thanks mal and ally)
May 4th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Re: Thanks from Itchmo
No prob, but mal deserves the credit!
I can’t even get my head wrapped around this. Anyone else? =:-O
May 4th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I got an idea lets all go on a hunger strike.
May 4th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Yo Itchmo!
I think your link is broken - try taking out the extra “http://” to the article!
ITCHMO ADMIN: Fixed the link. Thanks Ally!
May 4th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
I’ve seen news items that our govt would be reimbursing the farmers for the pigs and chickens that ate tainted feed. Wait a minute there! Shouldn’t the pet food companies be reimbursing them? They sold the rotten feed. Why should we taxpayers be stuck with this bill in addition to the loss of our pets, veterinary expenses, expense of continually switching from one food to the next in hopes of finding a safe food.
May 4th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
That is lot of Melachicken and a lot of “salvaged” pet food, anyone got a guess where Menu dumped the recalled stuff?
Maybe they put melachickens into the blenders when they started up the plant again and that is the cross contamination, it is one vast ecosystem based on poison from China!
Who knows what new wonders may be spawned?
One eyed goldfish, catfish that look a lot like Duane, the esteemed weasel for the PFI. Cattle that eat concrete and it all is safe safe safe, maybe we can get the FDA to eat some on camera while they explain the “dilution factor”?
May 4th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
The PFI has a bad case of Seriously Missing Common Sense.
May 4th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
E. Hamilton Says: at 8:09 pm
“maybe we can get the FDA to eat some on camera while they explain the “dilution factorâ€?”
*memo to self: start copyrighting ideas E. likes to steal….*
;-)
May 4th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
And it’s 5,6,7
Open up the pearly gates!
Well there ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopee we’re all gonna die!
May 4th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Am I correct that the number of chickens that actually got to consumers (and probably to the dinner plate) was around 3 million?
May 4th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Patty knowing the way the government lies to the people it’s probably a hell of lot worse then they want to let on.
Were considered collateral damage.
May 4th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Patty - did you mean in FDA Alice In Wonderlandâ„¢ numbers or perhaps something too simplistic for them as in real numbers?
Just askin’…..
May 4th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I don’t believe for a minute that 20 million chickens ate tainted pet food…I think the contamination goes way beyond what went into pet food. The FDA just doesn’t want the public to realize how widespread the problem is, so they’re hiding behind the pet food recall cloak.
May 4th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
FDA allows biuret, cyanuric acid, triuret as food additive in feed and water of animals
http://lethaldose.wordpress.co.....f-animals/
Direct link to the FDA page:
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/.....fr=573.220
I found the above blog and found it interesting but don’t know if it is significent..
May 4th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
Debra Says: at 8:23 pm
Yes indeed thats always lurking in the back of my mind as well. Otherwise known as the sh*t is hitting the fan.
May 4th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
RE:shallah Says
The problem seems to be that there are so many “allowed” limits of potentially dangerous products in everything. When you put together a dozen or so products or ingredients all with their “allowable” levels of toxins then it becomes a games of Russian roulette.
Woops..we lost!!
May 4th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
The article says contaminated feed. It doesn’t say pet food does it?
May 4th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Ok, yes it does say pet food. I wonder which manufacturing company dumped this food. And where does Reuters get this info? Anyone find any original notices from our friendly guv’mint?
May 4th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
I just posted this as a reply to the story about the FDA’s warning about glycerin. It’s relevant to both stories, and you wondered if they might be related:
—————————————————–
OMG.
Glycerin is fed to poultry.
There’s a glut of glycerin now because it’s a byproduct of biodiesel production, and they’ve been looking for uses for it, and one that’s gotten a lot of attention has been feeding glycerin to poultry.
Here:
http://www.biodieselmagazine.c.....amp;page=2
Excerpt:
—
A more recent animal feed trial using glycerin has received national attention. Researchers at the University of Arkansas’ Center of Excellence for Poultry Science recently studied glycerin as a dietary supplement in growing broiler chickens. Poultry nutritionist Park Waldroup initiated the study, which evaluated glycerin in diets fed to broilers of typical market age in litter floor pens.
The study, which Waldroup cautions is strictly preliminary, showed that as much as 10 percent glycerin could be fed to chicks in battery brooders up to 16 days of age. Battery brooders are brooding boxes with wire floors stacked on top of each other to conserve space.
Five percent glycerin inclusion in pelleted feed showed no adverse effect on bodyweight, feed intake, feed conversion or mortality. However, 10 percent glycerin inclusion reduced body weight due to reduced feed flow rate. More information on the study can be found at www.biodieselmagazine.com.
Waldroup and his researchers concluded that glycerin can be used as an energy source for broiler diets. While the results of this study are intriguing, Waldroup cautions they are preliminary and were based on a consistent, clean supply of glycerin.
—
So if you have a warning about glycerin, and news that more than 20 million chickens were affected…
I’m going to post this in the topic about those chickens, too — hope that’s okay. It’s relevant to both.
May 4th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
A dairy cow in British Columbia has BSE (mad cow disease)…
http://tinyurl.com/33zn49
Interesting…it’s transmitted through feed containing protein from an infected animal. Maybe I should go on a no protein diet. What am I saying, with everything becoming contaminated by one thing or another, pretty soon I’ll be on the no food diet.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
The glycerin angle is very interesting. I don’t know how it would impact humans, but back on pet connection there is a warning about how to use it properly so that you don’t end up with antifreeze in the feed, which of course causes kidney failure in pets.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Wow, byproducts are cheaper by the million!
May 4th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Friday Afternoon Report - Just as everyone has predicted, although I’m sure most of us didn’t expect 20 miilion chickens to be tainted. The FDA needs to do the right thing and keep them out of the food supply. Anything less is just pure criminal negligence at this point. If the crap kills our pets, I don’t want to eat it even if I might not die tomorrow from eating the contaminated poultry. They don’t know what this stuff does long-term.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:12 pm
The Chinese should be reimbursing the farmers and the American pet owner, if you ask me. They should be paying hefty fines and those fines should be used to compensate for all the losses.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong but… this does not make sense to me. The FDA and USDA have told us repeatedly that there is no need to recall the mela-chicken and mela-pork that already went to market because the risk is so very low (due to the infamous ‘dilution factor’ - hey that could be a new reality TV series where people have to eat mela-meat!). So why now do they have to “decide” if these 20 million chickens are ok to go to market? I thought they already established that mela-meat consumption is A-OK.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
What the %^%$ are we doing to our food supply and all this experimentation on animals to see how much non-food toxins they can ingest without short-term side-effects. Geezus - I can’t believe this stuff is allowed to go on - it’s the 21st century for godsake - God help us all.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Sorry if this is old news, but I haven’t seen it posted anywhere here yet. Did anyone catch the Ag Day show last Monday? I think it is interesting what people within the ag industry have to say, and I enjoy the show whenever I can catch it. I missed it last Monday, but just caught the webcast just now. They did a piece on the contaminated feed reaching the hogs.
They said that this investigation should be taken away from the FDA and given solely to the USDA because the FDA is not equipped for it; cited the spinach fiasco; showed people shopping at local farmer’s markets.
Anyway, if anyone wants to see it, go to http://tinyurl.com/2k5wp8
May 4th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Andrew C. von Eschenbach NEEDS TO BE FIRED - FIRED - FIRED - FIRED - FIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HE’S USELESS AND INCOMPETENT.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
slt, it doesn’t make sense to me either, but didn’t they say something before about not being able to allow food that’s known to be adulterated to enter the food supply? (If it’s already there, though, well, they didn’t allow it, so it’s not their problem.) Geesh!
May 4th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
according to head FDA dude in the USAToday letter it’s in BOTH pet food and animal feed:
“Recent contamination of pet food and animal feed by vegetable protein products imported from China is a serious concern to all Americans.”
May 4th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Kiki he’s an old Bush Family friend I wouldn’t get your hopes up to high. Although if we keep the pressure up maybe he’ll leave to “spend more time with family”. (Take some corporate civilian job where he can continue to plummet under the radar)
May 4th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
I thought when there were 3 million chickens, how much glop is there to get sold that could effect that many chickens. And now it is 20 million. I thought at the time it was 3 million, that they unloaded the recalled food and I think the answer is now obvious. Chickens ate food in February, stock got sold in February and had I known in February that there was an issue with food, I think my cat may have not died in March. MONSTERS!! CRIMINALS. IN OUR FOOD SUPPLY!!!
Oh you boys in Attica. We need your help. I hope you are reading this. We need you to take care of a problem soon…. Show them no mercy.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
I wouldn’t be shocked if everything that came in from China all during 06 was contaminated at this point. Not at all.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
“Recent contamination of pet food and animal feed by vegetable protein products imported from China is a serious concern to all Americans.â€
And it’s Captain Obvious to the rescue! Maybe his next trick will be to explain why we have to buy any food at all from China when we could…*drumroll*…GROW IT HERE! *rimshot*
May 4th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
CathyA, …..if you were doing a crossword puzzle and the question was “major pet food mfr that dumped tainted food on chicken farms”…..and if it were a four letter word that started with M………what would be your wild guess? :)
May 4th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Yes, that is what I read too, both pet food and animal feed are contaminated. My post of over a week ago, an excerpt from the Chinese
manufacturers website, claims thier protiens are good for
CATTLE, pigs,chickens, ducks, and more……including farmed fish (aquaculture) which means the uneaten pellets fall to the ocean floor
and contaminate other sea creatures, etc…
On that note, I read somewhere that tainted feed was sold to a fishfarm and the fish had alreadygone to market. The fish eat soy protein in their
feed pellets. I’ll see if I can find it on the website if it’s still there……..
Why can’t we just feed animals what they are intended to eat……..WE
are what we eat! I do not want to be a melahuman.
This is so sad…..but it’s good that it’s becoming public knowledge.
May 4th, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Well let’s just say the Bad ingredients cames into the plants to make the foods {dry and wet} Jan. 2nd 2007;
The first recall {plant suspension of production too?}
was March 16th, {the first testing issues came up on Feb. 20th}, Jan. 2nd to March 16th is 11 Weeks of Food production OUT THERE. {and I know this went way back to last late-Fall 06, {one post/report said May 06} and Most likely years further back; but definitely Last year.
That’s a LOooooong time and considering some of the tonage of the ingredients we’ve seen notes of, a HELLAVA LOTTA FOOD.
And *Plenty* of Spillage surplus to ship off to the Agriculture Field’s stock animals. Just those 11 weeks.
Another thing I’ve learned from all of this: {I know Hogs will eat just about Anything!}
BUT, I did not know that, Chickens were: Meatasauruses! {considering the animal proteins in the spillage}. BLECH!
Odds are We’ve ALL already eaten Contaminated Chicken.
Numerous times.
May 4th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
The animal feed produced by the infamous importer(s) is used to feed all kinds of livestock. There website seems to have changed…. I made a post that had an excerpt from their website that said their feed is good for Cattle, hogs, chicken, ducks, and more…..including aquaculture, which means farm salmon and trout. ( the fish eat soy protein) so why are the cattle not invloved? or ducks? or turkeys? & fish? I also read that a fish farm had had a shipment of feed that was supposedly tainted but the fish had gone to market. …and don’t think eating veggies is healther - anyone
want carrots from xuzhou anying biologic?
http://www.xzay.com/english/Ar.....ticleID=84
( this was the best I could do…sorry it does not click)
This is so sad. Why can’t we just let animals eat, what the good Lord meant for them to eat. We are what we eat. I thought we had that all
figured out.
Are there itchmo. archives where I can go look for my post anyone???
May 4th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Just Recalled cans: 60 million {using the 5.5 size cans}, that’s 16,500 TONS of food recalled. {Is my Math right?} I Do know it was eventually that time alot more Tons.
Holy Moly. Just the canned Recalled stuff!
May 4th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Alabelreader, the website has some slight changes I think too.
BUT, they’ve still got, under ‘Enterprise Honors’ their, “Unit of Honesty and Credit” showing!
Which I think is a Hoot!
{altho I’m sure that applies to ‘financial’ issues, in Their reality in China}
They had/have several vegetables and ‘grain’ type products offered before too.
Luv the photo’s of the COWS on their site.
May 4th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
i wonder what’s in those carrots . . .
May 4th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
New Wegman’s cat food recall…not sure if this has been mentioned on here yet or not:
http://tinyurl.com/2rkco7
May 5th, 2007 at 12:19 am
Are there any chicken ranchers out there? If so, please let me know the proper age for bringing a chicken to market. My understanding is the chickens need need to be slaughtered before 3 or 4 months of age or they are tough and stringy and not even edible! (Of course the exception would be canned soups whose produces can boiled the chicken for days to tenderize it or simply dice it so you swallow without chewing.)
I think I heard somewhere that Cornish Game Hens are 4 weeks old. So based on the fact that 20 MILLION chickens are sitting out there contaminated and we are pretty certain that these issues started in February I must assume that every single chicken part we’ve eaten since March 1st are likely contaminated!
Gee, I guess I need to clear the chicken AND cornish game hens from the freezer along with turkey breasts and pork/ham. I also should assume that if the chicken isn’t in my freezer, its probably in my pet food!!! This is making me insane! I have 5 hams, roughly 10 pounds of chicken breasts, 8 cornish game hens and about 8 pounds of boneless pork chops in my freezer! Thank goodness I also have one quarter of range/grass fed buffalo in the freezer that I purchased from a very, very, very trusted rancher/friend!
May 5th, 2007 at 12:31 am
RHONDA:
Found this information on age of chickens and cornish hens:
Broilers are meat-type chickens. Sometimes they are called fryers or frying chicken. Commercial broilers are crossbreds, primarily involving White Cornish and White Plymouth Rock. Today’s commercial broilers are marketed at 4-10 weeks of age, depending on the body weight desired. Broilers are used for products such as Cornish Hens (2.85 lb live weight at about 4 weeks of age), chicken for fast food restaurants (4.1 lb at about 6 weeks of age), chicken for grocery stores (6.0 lb at about 7.5 weeks of age), and deboned chicken for sandwiches, nuggets, etc. (6.5 lb at about 8.5 weeks of age).
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/PS035
May 5th, 2007 at 1:09 am
Makes one wonder……just what they are going to do with all of that contaminated chicken & pork, if they don’t process it for human consumption…..turn it into pet food??!!??!!??
If allowed to be processed for human consumption, what will it do to human health 5 yrs - 10 yrs - 15 yrs from now????
Short term effects is not the only important thing here - the long term effect is just as important.
Keep wondering what the folks in the White House is eating these days???
May 5th, 2007 at 1:25 am
mal,
Thanks. Now I’m certain that we’ve been eating tainted food! Thank goodness I didn’t go the route of homemade foods since I couldn’t have survived killing my fur-babies with that! Its bad enough thinking I could be feeding them something from a can or bag that someone else made. This whole situation is just disgusting! I’ve been telling my husband for WEEKS and WEEKS that the whole reason the FDA was hiding was because it was in our food. Of course, I didn’t understand the full scope of it. I was concentrating on food labels, not fresh ingredients!
May 5th, 2007 at 1:37 am
Heck of a job, Eschie!!!
My guess is Eschenbach will be rewarded with the Medal of Freedom by the end of the year.
May 5th, 2007 at 4:40 am
I know I haven’t been weighing in on any discussions, however I’ve been following all this for weeks, and just get more and more appalled. I lost one 6/o cat in November 2006 of ARF, she was eating Blue Buffalo, and as her appetite dropped began feeding her only chicken breasts. When the vet did an atopsy he said her kidneys were totally gone. Lost another cat suddenly on a different type of food in December. I have a beloved rescue dog who I was feeding Blue Buffalo (lower calorie which has rice protein concentrate) and supplimenting her with chicken breasts. Have now changed to an organic pet food, supplemented with chicken breasts. (I cook the whole chicken, and I eat the dark meat), but who knows what to do. Someone early in the day provided a link to many importers from China of brown rice. Checked out a couple; the whole thing is horrifying! Just one company produces alot of chemicals, many plastics, equipment to process plastics, AND brown rice for pet foods…AND packaging for pet food companies, and packaging for human foods in general. In fact their ad showed a package of macadian nuts for humans. The company even produces salt peter for heavens sake! It’s incredible what goes on over there, and we import without any investigation or supervision, because it’s cheaper. Even if the production of the food tests safe, who know if it then isn’t sitting in contaminated packaging as we store it. We think our risk is from the Middle East!….our population is being poisoned from China. When I spoke to a person from Blue Buffalo she said, “we test every production batch for toxins and pesticides, but who knew to test for plastics?”….and who knows what we should be testing for in either animals or our own food supply. If all those contaminated chickens are slaughered because they aren’t fit for “human consumption” want to bed they don’t end up just buried or burned. Some company will buy them cheap, and probably end up as “chicken fat” in pet food.
May 5th, 2007 at 9:34 am
alabelreader: May 4th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Archives Links are here:
http://www.itchmo.com/go/tagged/safety/
May 5th, 2007 at 10:19 am
RE: shallah Says:
May 4th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
That FDA statement pertains to RUMINANT animals (hoofed mammals having multi-chambered stomachs). It does not pertain to cats, dogs, pigs, or chickens…
May 5th, 2007 at 10:25 am
from Kiki: What the %^%$ are we doing to our food supply and all this experimentation on animals to see how much non-food toxins they can ingest without short-term side-effects.
………………………………………..
The glycerin in poultry feed is a way to get rid of industrial by-products without having to dispose of them properly just as the pet food industry supoorts waste from commercial food by-products, the rendering industry, and dead stock pickup industry. Oh, and let’s not forget… the melamine scrap industry!
Let’s keep putting toxic wastes into our animal and human food. It’s certainly cheaper than disposing of chemicals properly.