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Distillers Grain vs E Coli

Mike

Well-known member
ScienceDaily (Dec. 12, 2007) — Ethanol plants and livestock producers have created a symbiotic relationship. Cattle producers feed their livestock distiller's grains, a byproduct of the ethanol distilling process, giving ethanol producers have an added source of income.

But recent research at Kansas State University has found that cattle fed distiller's grain have an increased prevalence of E. coli 0157 in their hindgut. This particular type of E. coli is present in healthy cattle but poses a health risk to humans, who can acquire it through undercooked meat, raw dairy products and produce contaminated with cattle manure.

"Distiller's grain is a good animal feed. That's why ethanol plants are often built next to feedlots," said T.G. Nagaraja, a professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology at K-State's College of Veterinary Medicine.

The growth in ethanol plants means more cattle are likely to be fed distiller's grain, therefore harboring 0157 and potentially a source of health risks to humans, Nagaraja said. That's why he and Jim Drouillard, K-State professor of animal sciences, have been collaborating on testing distiller's grain-fed cattle for 0157. Nagaraja and Drouillard, who studied the carcass quality of cattle fed distiller's grain, are joined by Megan Jacob, a K-State doctoral student in pathobiology. Through three rounds of testing, Nagaraja said the prevalence of 0157 was about twice as high in cattle fed distiller's grain compared with those cattle that were on a diet lacking the ethanol byproduct.

"This is a very interesting observation and is likely to have profound implications in food safety," Nagaraja said.

Food safety and animal health are research priorities at K-State, which since 1999 has dedicated more than $70 million on research related to animal health and food safety. More than 150 K-Staters are actively involved in these areas.

Nagaraja said research in the next few years will focus on finding out why 0157 is more prevalent in cattle fed a distiller's grain diet. He said it could be something that changes in the animals' hindgut as a result of feeding distiller's grains, or maybe the byproduct provides a nutrient for the bacteria.

"Feeding cattle distiller's grain is a big economic advantage for ethanol plants," Nagaraja said. "We realize we can't tell cattle producers, 'Don't feed distiller's grain.' What we want to do is not only understand the reasons why 0157 increases, but also find a way to prevent that from happening."
 

Mike

Well-known member
mrj said:
Mike, isn't there anything more recent on this issue than 2007???

mrj

Yea, the meskins at the big packers have been slopping feces all over the carcasses and spreading the E-Coli like hell won't have it.
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
I did some research on this subject and got this back from a nutritionist:


We’ve been feeding high levels of DG in Nebraska and Iowa now for about 10
years, and we’re feeding low to moderate levels in KS and TX for maybe 3-5
years. Yet recalls due to EColi have been pretty rare.

I guess my point is that, this bug was around before DG, it may be
increased by feeding DG, but our abilities to keep it out of beef exceed
whatever level it changes in the gut. For example, if feeding DG increases
Ecoli O157 in the gut by 2 or 3x. What we do in plants (washing, etc.)
reduce prevalence by 10-100x. And, interestingly, the only measure at the
plant that has been repeatedly related to rate of Ecoli in the grind has
been what we can swab from their back, not what’s in their gut.

That said, it’s probably important research, and it will increase our body
of knowledge, but if DG were going to cause a problem, as many cattle that
have been fed the stuff, at a high level (>30% of DM), we should have seen
something major before now.
 

mrj

Well-known member
Oh, come on FH, don't you realize what you learned had not been through the "hate the packer-sensationalize the story for maximum effect" tunnel yet????

Seriously, thank you for the common sense version from a nutritionist.

I'm trying to track down the follow-up to that research, but had a family member have carpal tunnel surgery yesterday, so had a long day in 'the city', and am playing 'catch-up' at home today today, and enough stuff stacked up that it will be mid-week before I get much time at the computer.

mrj
 

balestabber

Well-known member
E-coli and other related health risks are being researched in packing plants and colleges.i have had experience with 2 large packing companies. and alot happens on the farm and ranch before the animals ever reach these plants.
and THIS is why I raise my own groceries if possible.

i have witnessd a fur buyer feed his carcasses to hogs.
i have witnessed cattle fed chicken and turkey manure.
animals of all kinds are fed by-products of all kinds.

i just choose to raise my own!!
 

mrj

Well-known member
What are you really saying, Balestabber?

BTW, aren't hogs naturally omnivores and doesn't that include meat of other animals, and probably even their own kind???

Isn't chicken and turkey 'manure' actually a small part of the mix of 'manure' along with the bedding of wood chips, straw, etc?

Maybe more important, is it still fed to cattle?

I, along with many in my and previous generations ate chickens, hogs, and such which were raised 'naturally' and they obviously ate things they found, even mice, snakes, and other 'unusual' prey. We survived very well.

Acceptable feed ingredients change with time, science, and even (and this is not a great reason, IMO) the 'yuk factor' of customers.

Isn't it great that people are so well fed that they can be very choosy about what they eat in the USA????

mrj
 

balestabber

Well-known member
the carcasses were skunks and opossums and coons that laid in a driveway all winter before being cleaned up and fed.i kicked a dead cow once and 5 possums came out.
i just not choose to eat that meat.i feed mine fresh clean perch from lake.and they love it.i dont like the vaccinations and steroids in the meat that i put in my freezer.
the large chicken and turkey factories here that come out of farm factories dont look appealing to me either.i just like to fatten and butcher my own hens.
when we started putting ear implants in cattle[and i'm guilty]i think it has
caused alot of birth defects,cancers, and girls growing mustaches than one might not want to admit.
right now its just my opinion and preference to raise my own butcher meat along with my garden. i also think the insecticdes,and chemicals put on our food products can be harmful.i have put on my share in the past,but strive to clean-up my freezer and live another year longer maybe.maybe, i have explained my-self a little better.mean no harm to anyone!
 

Ben H

Well-known member
Fewere1.gif

Work conducted at Cornell University by Russell and Diez-Gonzalez in the late 1990s showed that cattle that were fed hay had far fewer E. coli than when they were fed a standard feedlot diet based on grain. (Microbes Infect 2, No. 1 (2000): 45-53.)

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http://www.eatwild.com/foodsafety.html
 
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