Have you heard of "nutrient recycling"?
When chickens and turkeys are raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), the large poultry houses must be cleaned out regularly. What comes out of these poultry houses is a mixture of bedding, chicken manure, uneaten chicken feed, feathers and even dead chickens.
Somewhere along the way, folks have decided that it would be smart to feed this stuff to cattle.
That's right, you read that correctly...Cattle are being fed chicken poop, feathers and even dead chickens!! It's perfectly legal and it's common practice in factory farming.
How disgusting!!
They've been doing this practice for years, despite the potential health hazards involved.
Well, an article was just released last week by the LA Times, explaining that cows throughout the midwest are becoming infected with a strain of highly pathogenic avian flu. (There's speculation that we may start seeing this pathogen in CAFO pork soon as well.)
This is absolutely crazy! You can't make this stuff up!
This isn't the first time we've seen issues caused by feeding poultry litter to cattle.
There have been verified cases of botulism in cattle due to feeding poultry litter.
And I'm sure you've heard of Mad Cow Disease, right? The scientific name for that is bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and it is also attributed to this disgusting farming practice. BSE is a zoonotic disease, meaning it can be transmitted from animals to humans. Consumption of meat products contaminated with BSE prions can lead to serious health problems...even death in some cases!
CAFOs produce over 90 percent of all meat consumed in the US. If you're not sure where your meat is coming from, it's more than likely coming from one of these concentrated factory farms.
Other countries have banned this "nutrient recycling" but the USDA and FDA would rather use their time and efforts to persecute small dairy farmers selling raw milk to their neighbors. It's blatantly obvious that these govt entities don't care about our health...it's all about greed and control.
The onus is on us as consumers to be responsible for our own health. Please, please take care of yourself and your family and make sure you're eating food from a farmer you can trust!