August 18, 2009
US consumer group wants poultry litter out of cattle feed
Consumer advocacy group Food Animal Concern Trust (FACT) is urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban the use of poultry litter in cattle feed.
The FDA considered the ban after the countrya€？s first case of mad cow disease surfaced in 2003, but actions were never taken, reports said.
FACT stated that feeding animal waste to livestock is dirty, disgusting and wrong. In areas of the US where large cattle and poultry operations coexist, poultry litter is routinely fed to cows, the group said.
Poultry litter consists primarily of manure, feathers, spilled feed and bedding material that accumulate on the floors of poultry houses, and they can contain disease-causing pathogens, toxic substances and foreign objects such as dead rodents, rocks, nails and glass, according to the FACT.
The group said this unhealthy and inhumane practice is legal and poorly monitored, which creates unacceptable risk to human and animal health. FACT said the FDA needs to ban the practice before human and animal health is further compromised.
FACTa€？s efforts are endorsed by several other groups including the Centre for Food Safety, the Centre for Science in the Public Interest, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Food & Water Watch, Humane Society of the United States, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and etc.