USDA Clears 20 Million Chickens For Market In Melamine Investigation

The Department of Agriculture on Monday announced that some 20 million chickens that may have eaten feed contaminated with melamine held on farms in several states will be released to market.

"In several cases, feed samples have tested negative for melamine and related compounds," USDA said in a news release. "It is assumed that because only small amounts of the contaminated feed were mixed with other rations, the melamine and related compounds were no longer detectable."

Last week, USDA pointed to 38 farms in Indiana where some 3.1 million chickens may have eaten tainted feed in February, but were slaughtered and sent to market. Also, about 6,000 hogs in six states may have also eaten contaminated feed. A hold was placed on the 20 million birds late Friday as the melamine investigation continued. (See For the birds: Contaminated feed now found on chicken farms in Indiana, on Meatingplace.com, May 1, 2007.)

Other animals, including poultry and hogs, will be held where melamine was detected, or where testing has not yet been completed.

Ray Atkinson, spokesman for Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the nation's largest chicken processor, told Meatingplace.com that none of the remaining flocks being held are part of Pilgrim's Pride's operations. "At this time we have no reason to believe that any of the chickens raised under contract for Pilgrim's Pride have been fed any unapproved ingredients as part of their normal feed formulas," he said.

USDA has declined to release the names of specific companies and farms concerned in the investigation, but some processors were quick to point out that they are not involved.

Livingston, Calif.-based Foster Farms, the largest chicken processor on the West Coast, released a statement saying, "Foster Farms does not import any protein ingredients from China for its poultry feed." The company also said that there is no USDA hold on any of its chickens.

South Fallsburg, N.Y.-based Murray's Chickens also announced that it does "not use imported feed or grains to feeds our chickens."

Scientists from USDA also said on Monday that there was low risk to humans who consumed meat from animals that had their diets supplemented with pet food containing melamine.

"USDA has concluded that, based on the human risk assessment and the inability to detect melamine from these samples, these animals no longer need to be quarantined or withheld from processing," the agency said.

Meantime, industry officials are working with the agencies to resolve the situation. "Our industry's highest concern is for the food safety of its products," Richard Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council told Meatingplace.com. "We will work with [the] government to ensure that all products sent to market are safe."

I think the “go” signal is based on the idea that humans are bigger, and eat a more varied diet than pets, so small amounts aren’t likely to do much harm.

When my son was very little and skinny (6-7 years old) he used to want lots of bacon. Since he was a difficult eater, I usually had bacon around for breakfast and snacks. So I wonder if they’re taking that kind of situation into account. Little kids and teens don’t always have as much variety in their diets as they should.

Said son is all grown up now, and a vegetarian!

TANKS,,,and there’s this :

http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070507/NEWS01/70507013/1002

The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry is adding China to the list of countries that must test seafood for a banned substance before it can be sold in Louisiana, Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Bob Odom said Friday.
“We’ve stopped the sale of Chinese seafood in Louisiana until we get test results proving it is free of the antibiotic fluoroquinolone,” Odom said in a press statement. “I’m disgusted by other countries trying to harm our people and animals with tainted food products. This has got to stop. Our farmers, fishermen and ranchers are held to a high standard of safety in this country and we should expect seafood coming in from other countries to be held to the same standard.”

Odom’s department is enforcing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s established zero-tolerance policy for this class of antibiotics.

Fluoroquinolones were previously found in Vietnamese seafood in 2005. As of now, any seafood from that country must be tested by an approved lab and proven to be free of the substance before it can be sold in the state. China is now being added to the list.
Odom said he was notified by Alabama’s agriculture commissioner about the possible presence of fluoroqinolones in Chinese catfish at the end of last week.

“Our inspectors pulled seafood samples from the U.S., China, Vietnam and Thailand. Of the 14 samples, one from China and one from Vietnam came back positive for fluoroquinolones. The product from the U.S. came back clean,” Odom said. “We’re still waiting on results from four of the samples.”

The positive Vietnamese product was already being held on stop sale orders because it did not have test results from an approved lab.

“This proves our testing requirements work. We stopped the Vietnamese product because the papers showed it was tested in Vietnam and free of fluoriquinolones. Our rules say it must be tested outside of Vietnam. Once we got the test results back from our lab, it was positive,” Odom said. “This shows zero-tolerance policies must be enforced to protect our consumers.”

Odom said recent problems with foreign food products point out the need to have strong agriculture in the United States.

“This renews my determination to continue fighting for American farmers at the national level. Consumers deserve to feel confident in the food they serve to their families and keeping domestic farmers in production delivers that confidence,” Odom said. “We cannot and should not depend on foreign countries to feed our people.”
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Ain’t just China...:0/

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