Dioxin in eggs and poultry

["Jackie Hunt Christensen" <jchristensen@iatp.org>]

This happened a year ago, unless there's something I haven't heard about.
below is the summary I put in my FOOD SAFETY & HEALTH news bulletin, Vol.
2, Number 5, July 21, 1997

FDA Restricts Chicken, Eggs And Catfish Due To Dioxin Contamination 


Food sampling as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)
dioxin reassessment turned up dioxin contamination in two chickens. The two
high samples contained 3.9 and 3.2 parts per trillion (ppt) of dioxin,
respectively; the other 78 samples averaged 0.09 ppt. (Edible meat samples
are generally found to contain about 0.6 ppt.) Samples with the higher
levels came from Tyson Food plants in Arkansas. EPA's results appear to
have prompted additional testing in other foods, namely, eggs and catfish. 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tested eggs and catfish and found
elevated levels in three egg and six catfish samples. Dioxin levels ranged
from 0.87 to 2.19 ppt in the eggs, and from 1.32 to 3.48 ppt in catfish. 

The high dioxin levels in chicken, eggs and catfish prompted the FDA to
impose a precautionary ban on sales in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana,
Texas, Missouri and possibly Oklahoma. The ban, which took effect on July
13, requires any company that obtained feed from one of two feed
manufacturers to first certify that their products do not contain more than
one ppt of dioxin. The one ppt threshold was derived by the FDA in
collaboration with the EPA and represents approximately 10 times
"background levels" in the environment. It is not meant to serve as a
permanent standard. Testing will continue until there is proof that the
problem of contaminated feed has been eliminated. 

The source of the dioxin contamination is believed to be bentonite, or
"ball clay," an anti-caking agent used in soybean meal. The meal is used in
feed for poultry operations as well as by some catfish farms. Riceland
Foods' plant in Stuttgart, Arkansas produced much of the feed and used
bentonite obtained from an open-pit mine operated near Sledge, Mississippi
by Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Company. Quincy Soybean Co. of Helena, Arkansas,
was the other feed producer identified The mine has stopped shipping clay
for feed use, at the request of the FDA.. Operators of the clay company
said they have no idea how the clay became contaminated. 

On July 3, 1997, the FDA ordered 350 poultry farms and animal feed
manufacturers to stop using the contaminated Riceland and Quincy feeds.
Both the American Feed Industry Association and the National Oilseed
Processors Association have said they will "work closely with all federal
agencies and parties involved in FDA's decision to cease distribution of
poultry feed contaminated with low levels of dioxin." 

More than 2,000 poultry workers were laid off temporarily as producer
companies scrambled to cope with the FDA ban on sales. Poultry companies
impacted by the ban include food conglomerate Tyson Foods, Inc., ConAgra,
Inc., Cargill's Honeysuckle White, and Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. About 13,000
catfish farmers were also affected. Representatives of the poultry and
catfish industries expressed outrage that the ban could decimate their
livelihoods. Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee said, "This is obviously
regulation overkill on the part of the FDA and the [Environmental
Protection Agency] ... What they're going to end up doing, with no
scientific data to support them, is put thousands of Arkansans out of work
either permanently or temporarily and possibly go a long way toward
destroying our economy." 

The FDA emphasized that the agency believes the poultry, eggs and catfish
on the market do not pose an immediate health threat. Rather, the FDA based
its decision for the testing requirements on dioxin's bioaccumulative
nature -- that is, its tendency to build up in body fat rather than being
metabolized. FDA spokesman Lawrence Bachorik noted, "With dioxin, the issue
is in essence the lifetime burden of exposure. ... There's a background
level of dioxin that everyone's exposed to. When you've identified a source
and can control it, you should shut that source off." 

Dioxin has been linked to numerous health effects in humans and wildlife,
including various cancers, reproductive effects, immune system suppression,
and learning disabilities. It is an unwanted byproduct of industrial
processes such as incineration of household trash and medical waste,
manufacture of some pesticides, and chlorine bleaching of paper products. 

"Soybean Processing Solvent May Have Led to Dioxin Contamination," FOOD
CHEMICAL NEWS, June 23, 1997; "FDA Tells U.S. Producers Not to Ship Some
Catfish, Eggs," AGWEEK, July 14, 1997; Sarah Muirhead, "FDA Identifies
Dioxin Source; Testing Requirements in Place," FEEDSTUFFS, July 14, 1997;
D. Chaney and C. Plunkett, "Dioxin Ruling Keeps 2,000 Workers Home,"
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, July 15, 1997; Bruce Ingersoll, "U.S. Is Banning
Some Poultry, Fearing Dioxin," WALL STREET JOURNAL, July 15, 1997; D.
Chaney and C. Plunkett, "Fish Industry Not Off the Dioxin-Test Hook,"
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, July 16, 1997; "Dioxin Scare Upsets Catfish,
Poultry Farmers," ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE, July 18, 1997. 

EPA, to my knowledge, is reviewing the samples of the ball clay used in the
feed to see if it's "natural" dioxin or from an industrial source. One
hopes any research would be peer-reviewed (I THINK Dwain WInters of EPA
presented some unreviewed data at Dioxin '97 -- is that right, Dr. BIll?)

FYI "AK" is the abbreviation for ALaska; "AR" is for Arkansas.

P.S. As a shameless pitch for my news bulletin, you can read it in the
Resources section of the Endocrine Disrupter Resource Center at
http://www.iatp.org/edrc/  :)

----------------------------------------------------------
Jackie Hunt Christensen
Food Safety Project Director
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
2105 1st Avenue South
Minneapolis,  MN 55404
612-870-3424 (direct line)
612-870-4846 (fax)
e-mail: <jchristensen@iatp.org>
IATP main web site: http://www.iatp.org
IATP's Endocrine Disrupter Resource Center: http://www.iatp.org/edrc