FDA finds evidence of salmonella in chicken feed

Source: LA Times

Reporting from Washington —
Food and Drug Administration officials said Thursday their investigators had honed in on chicken feed as a likely major contributor to the salmonella contamination that triggered a nationwide egg recall and potentially caused nearly 1,500 cases of illness.

Feed found at Wright County Egg in Iowa tested positive for salmonella, FDA officials said at a joint news conference with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Salmonella also was found in walkways and manure at Wright County Egg, as well as in ingredients used in the feed. The samples of the salmonella were a genetic match to the salmonella that has made many people sick, officials said.

(snip)


In addition to the chicken feed, other potential sources of contamination may emerge because the testing has not been completed, said Sherri McGarry, an emergency coordinator for the FDA.

The salmonella samples found in the feed could signal a larger problem of site contamination, said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, FDA deputy commissioner.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/health/la-na-eggs-fda-20100827,0,2929313.story

eom

Well, today they got some stale bread, potato peels, an apple, peanuts, an ugly tomato out of the garden, assorted grasshoppers, their usual millet seed, and the weeds in the lawn -- but no salmonella.

If you don't have backyard chickens, you don't know what you are missing.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20012457-10391704.html

Procter & Gamble, maker of Iams and Eukanuba dry dog foods, is recalling certain varieties of these popular and pricey products because they may be contaminated with salmonella. The risk extends to humans as well, as experts say dogs who become infected with salmonella can transmit the disease-causing bacterium to people.

how is it passing down the chain to the egg.

"Sherri McGarry, an emergency coordinator for the FDA"

:hide:

David Kirby on "The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy and Poultry Farms on Humans and the Environment"

DAVID KIRBY: The chicken manure. And the dust has been found in the air filters of homes and schools in this town, and it’s been found with arsenic that has been traced back to the feed in the chicken.

Something else we feed chickens that people don’t realize is beef products. And when those chickens eat that beef product, some of it falls into their litter. Well, we produce so much chicken litter in this country, because of these factory farms, and it is so rich in phosphorus and nitrogen, its land application uses are limited. So you have surplus chicken litter and nothing to do with it. What do they do with it? They feed it to cattle. So we feed beef cows chicken crap. That chicken litter often contains bits and byproducts of cattle. So we are actually feeding cattle to cattle, which is a risk factor for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease. We actually feed cattle products to cattle in three different ways: chicken litter, restaurant scraps, and blood products on dairy farms. And all the mad cow cases in this country came from mega-dairies where, when that calf is born, they remove it from its mother immediately, because that mother’s milk is a commodity, it’s worth money, so instead they feed that calf a formula that includes bovine blood products, and again increasing the risk of mad cow disease.


http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/24/david_kirby_on_the_looming_threat

So chicken poop is fed to cows.

Just read Mad Cow USA.

and feed can legally contain rendered road kill, dead horses, and euthanized cats and dogs. Oh, and plastic pellets to compensate for the lack of natural fiber in their diets.


http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/science_and_impacts/impacts_industrial_agriculture/they-eat-what-the-reality-of.html