Burden of the Feed Ban
US - New federal restrictions on animal feed may improve safety in the food chain, but it will also add additional financial pressure on livestock producers and processors.
30 April 2008
1 minute read
The Food and Drug Administration's final rule banning certain materials from use in all animal feed, which took effect April 25, will cost livestock-related industries up to $81 million a year, according to the agency's economic analysis.
According to Capital Press, under the new rule, the brains and spinal cords of cattle over 30 months of age - closely linked to the transmission of bovine spongiform encephalopathy - cannot be rendered for use in any animal food.
The news agency reports that many rendering plants can't justify the cost of separating brains and spinal cords or verifying cattle age, said Tom Cook, president of the National Renderers Association.
"The value (of the carcass) isn't going to be as much, and they're going to have to do more with it," he said. Many cattle producers will seek other alternatives to rendering rather than accept the resulting cost hikes, Cook said.
Because the burden will be concentrated among a relatively small number of facilities, the rule may drive up to 12 percent of nation's 231 rendering plants out of business, depending how much of the extra cost they'd absorb, according to FDA's analysis.
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