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USDA Should Prohibit Use of Distillers' Grain as Cattle Feed

By Pritzker | Ruohonen

A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) study has shown “conclusively that there is a link between distillers’ grain [ethanol by-product] and the prevalence of E. coli,” according to University of Minnesota associate professor Francisco Diez, who was interviewed by Minnesota Public Radio for a report on the USDA study.

The objective of the USDA research project, which started in October of 2007, was to determine the effect of feeding distillers’ grain on the shedding of E. coli O157:H7 in finishing feedlot cattle.  The USDA researchers collected hide and feces samples from 300 control cattle and 300 cattle fed diets supplemented with distillers’ grain.

USDA researcher Jim Wells told MPR that the study found E. coli O157:H7 in almost 15 percent of the samples from the distillers’ grain group and in only 1.5 percent in the samples from the control group.  

This is a significant difference, yet Wells stated what is clearly the profit-comes-first position of the USDA:

"The point of the study isn't necessarily to say that what someone is doing is bad, it's just to make the people aware that there are consequences," said Wells. "I don't know if I could tell them to change it, because there are advantages to feeding distillers’ grain."

Here are the advantages of using distillers’ grain as cattle feed:

1. Distillers’ grain is a cheap food source, thus saving ranchers money and
2. Ethanol companies make money selling the distillers’ grain to ranchers

E. coli O157:H7 kills and severely sickens people. This disadvantage outweighs the “advantages.” USDA, prohibit the use of distillers’ grain as cattle feed. 

The following image is from a 2006 USDA article praising the use of distillers' grain as livestock feed to boost the profitability of ethanol production:

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on October 20, 2008 (boomark / email).