Nexus - 0401 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Rendering plants have different specialities. The labelling des- ignation of a particular "run" of product is defined by the predom- inance of a specific animal. Some product-label names are: meat meal, meat by-products, poultry meal, poultry by-products, fish meal, fish oil, yellow grease, tallow, beef fat and chicken fat. Rendering plants perform one of the most valuable functions on Earth: they recycle used animals. Without rendering, our cities would run the risk of becoming filled with diseased and rotting carcasses. Fatal viruses and bacteria would spread uncontrolled through the population. 1990 issue of Render, the industry's national magazine, suggests that the self-regulation of certain contamination problems is not working. One policing program that is already off to a shaky start is the Salmonella Education/Reduction Program, formed under the aus- pices of the National Renderers Association. The magazine states that "...unless US and Canadian renderers get their heads out of the ground and demonstrate that they are serious about reducing the incidence of salmonella contamination in their animal protein meals, they are going to be faced with...new and overly stringent government regulations." So far, the voluntary self-testing program is not working. According to the magazine, "...only about 20 per cent of the total number of companies producing or blending animal protein meal have signed up for the program..." Far fewer have done the actual testing. Tha Aw wT £ Vata The Dark Side So far, the voluntary self-testing program is not working. Death is the number one commodity in a business where the According to the magazine, "...only about 20 per cent of the total demand for feed ingredients far exceeds the supply of raw prod- number of companies producing or blending animal protein meal uct. But this elaborate system of food production through waste have signed up for the program..." Far fewer have done the actual management has evolved into a recycling nightmare. Rendering testing. plants are unavoidably processing toxic The American Journal of Veterinary waste. . Research conducted an investigation into The dead animals (the "raw") are Because animals are the persistence of sodium phenobarbital in accompanied by a whole menu of frequently shoved into the the carcasses of euthanised animals at a unwanted ingredients. Pesticides enter . . . typical rendering plant in 1985 and found the rendering process via poisoned live- pit with flea collars still "...virtually no degradation of the drug stock, and fish oil laced with bootleg attached organophosphate- occurred during this conventional render- 3 DDT and other organophosphates that . 2 y 4. ing process..." and that "...the potential of have accumulated in the bodies of West containing insecticides get other chem: contaminants (e.g., heavy Coast mackerel and tuna. . . metals, pesticides and environmental toxi- Because animals are frequently shoved into the mix as well. cants, which may cause massive herd mor- into the pit with flea collars still attached, talities) to degrade during conventional organophosphate-containing insecticides rendering needs further evaluation." get into the mix as well. The insecticide Dursban arrives in the Renderers are the silent partners in our food chain. But worried form of cattle insecticide patches. Pharmaceuticals leak from insiders are beginning to talk, and one word that continues to antibiotics in livestock, and euthanasia drugs given to pets are come up in conversation is "pesticides". The possibility of petro- also included. Heavy metals accumulate from a variety of chemically poisoning our food has become a reality. Government sources: pet ID tags, surgical pins and needles. agencies and the industry itself are allowing toxins to be inadver- Even plastic winds up going into the pit. Unsold supermarket tently recycled from the streets and supermarket shelves into the meats, chicken and fish arrive in styrofoam trays and shrink wrap. food chain. As we break into a new decade of increasingly com- No one has time for the tedious chore of unwrapping thousands of _ plex pollution problems, we must rethink our place in the environ- rejected meat-packs. More plastic is added to the pits with the ment. No longer hunters, we are becoming the victims of our arrival of cattle ID tags, plastic insecticide patches and the green technologically altered food chain. plastic bags containing pets from veterinarians. The possibility of petrochemically poisoning our food has become a reality. Rendering Judgements (First published in Earth Island Journal, Fall 1990.) Cle Tal ~ ae Rendering Judgements Skyrocketing labour costs are one of the economic factors forc- ing the corporate flesh-peddlers to cheat. It is far too costly for plant personnel to cut off flea collars or unwrap spoiled T-bone steaks. Every week, millions of packages of plastic-wrapped meat go through the rendering process and become one of the unwanted ingredients in animal feed. The most environmentally conscious state in the nation is California, where spot checks and testing of animal-feed ingredi- ents happen at the wobbly rate of once every two-and-a-half months. The supervising state agency is the Department of Agriculture's Feed and Fertilizer Division of Compliance. Its main objective is to test for truth in labelling: does the percentage of protein, phosphorous and calcium match the rendering plant's claims; do the percentages meet state requirements? However, testing for pesticides and other toxins in animal feeds is incom- plete. In California, eight field inspectors regulate a rendering indus- try that feeds the animals that the state's 30 million people eat. When it comes to rendering plants, however, state and federal agencies have maintained a hands-off policy, allowing the indus- try to become largely self-regulating. An article in the February Dow NLoOA DED ANY THI G INTERESTIA G OFF THE WEB LATELY 2 20 - NEXUS Because animals are DECEMBER 1996 - JANUARY 1997