Did you know that cattle are routinely fed the waste from the floor of commercial chicken houses? That's feces, feathers, spilled feed, straw, dirt and anything else on the floor under the cramped birds.
Chicken farmers have more chicken waste than they know what to do with. And cattle feedlots are always on the lookout for low cost feed. But against that simple cost benefit, we need to weigh the safety of our food.
The practice of feeding chicken waste to cattle is both disgusting and unsafe. It must end. Tell the FDA to stop cattle companies from feeding chicken waste to cows.
I am disgusted that poultry litter -- manure, feathers, spilled feed, bedding material and dead rodents -- is allowed to be fed to cattle. It's disgusting, inhumane and unsafe.
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Right now an estimated one billion pounds of chicken waste are shoveled in front of cattle on feedlots each year, and the cows eat what's in front of them. Additionally, current rules already prohibit feedlots from giving cows meal containing beef by-products, because that's how mad cow disease is spread. But cattle by-products can be given to chickens. The chicken "litter" delivered to feedlots contains that banned feed.
It also contains bacteria and pathogens, including E. coli and Salmonella, antibiotics and other drug residues, and metals like arsenic, copper and zinc.
Sincerely,
[Your name here]
