On 16/06/11 13:14, Duncan Martin wrote:
And even if the info is sound, it might well be specific to a particular farm with odd local conditions or feed sources - or perhaps a specific medication added to the feed. I'm no expert on chickens but arsenic (at above trace background levels) doesn't sound like a likely feed additive. Would the chickens be fit to eat?
It's well documented (and commonly used where legislation allows, I believe) as a chicken feed additive to promote faster growth and to combat coccidiosis. Roxarsone is one of the trade names used. I know various feed producers have undertaken to remove it from their feed, but until recently it's quite likely that most of the chicken sold for human consumption in the US had arsenic-based feed additives. I believe there was some research done last year by the USDA that demonstrated the presence of arsenic in chicken being sold for human consumption, but I've not seen any genuinely independent confirmation of that. It's not uncommon for animals to be fed such things. For example, copper is also toxic at relatively low levels, but copper compounds were commonly fed to pigs (as growth promoters IIRC). Like arsenic I believe they're also banned in the EU now -- certainly in the UK. James _______________________________________________ Digestion mailing list to Send a Message to the list, use the email address [email protected] to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page http://lists.bioenergylists.org/mailman/listinfo/digestion_lists.bioenergylists.org for more information about digestion, see Beginner's Guide to Biogas http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/ and the Biogas Wiki http://biogas.wikispaces.com/
