Glyphosate in Chicken Feed- Should I be concerned or not?

[Jimmy W]

Good morning,
After taking a course in Poultry management from Penn State, my interest perked in how items in feed can be transferred into the end product (Eggs and Meat). I have been researching this for the past week or so and have come to the conclusion that all poultry feed is contaminated. Similar to recent PFAS/PFOS legislation, big brother has set acceptable limits for human as well as animal consumption.

My main concern in feed products is Glyphosate. I have read research papers where commercial eggs, the ones we buy in our stores, were found to have Glyphosate contamination in 85% of the brands tested (both Organic and non-organic). I also read in my opinion a pretty decent study by a Mike Adams on contaminants is Chicken feed. The study limited to 6 mainline products, so it is not all inclusive of the feed network available.

Study Link- https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-03...ctor-supply-producers-pride-chicken-feed.html

This has prompted me to compose this post, as I am now at the point of seeking a source of the least contaminated feed at a reasonable price.

On the flip side, I am a second time Chicken owner, this time only 6 birds for eggs, and feel I am overreacting to this.

Has anyone found a source of contaminant free Feed, or close to it? Should I really be this concerned?


Thanks,

Jimmy

 

[2ndTink]

I think it's definitely worth trying to find the lowest contaminated feed, or hopefully chemical free feed, but I don't have any info.

Following...

 

[U_Stormcrow]

You are over reacting.
and you should find a better source than Adams.

The question is not whether there are clinically detectable levels of "x" (pick any X you want) in product "y", its whether the quantity of "x" consumed, over any given timeframe, reaches statistically significant levels of potential harm.

That takes math, and its a kind of math that most humans are REALLY bad at.

If you don't want to do the math (and its VERY difficult to find hard numbers to attempt to do the math with), I'll offer an alternative viewpoint.

No one publishes their testing on their labels. (Even if they did, people who follow ike Adams regularly aren't likely to believe the labels). So you would have to get your feed tested, compare with oher feeds. Assume the testing Labratories aren't in on "it" (whatever "it" is) and that you can rely on their results.

Great. You have your answer. That bag. Maybe even this season. But chicken feed is made from grains - grains bought in bulk, sourced from all over the nation (and in the case of national brands, milled all over the nation, and shipped all over the nation). At any given time, I can walk into my local TSC and find {Given Name}-branded products (possibly even the same product) milled at different mills on different dates made from grains grown at different times, in different places. The testing on bag A tells you nothing about the likely test results of Bag B.

Are you going to buy, send for testing, await results, and then decide whether to use or not? That has nutritional consequences of it own...

Recommend you consider it "impractical" to go down this particular rabbit hole.

If, however, you are not inclined to believe me - and that's fine,I can link studies, but expect them to be dismissed for various reasons - engage in a bit of simple risk management.

Don't eat egg yolks. Glyphosate levels tend to be about 100 times higher in the yolk than the white.

 

[2ndTink]

You are over reacting.
and you should find a better source than Adams.

The question is not whether there are clinically detectable levels of "x" (pick any X you want) in product "y", its whether the quantity of "x" consumed, over any given timeframe, reaches statistically significant levels of potential harm.

That takes math, and its a kind of math that most humans are REALLY bad at.

If you don't want to do the math (and its VERY difficult to find hard numbers to attempt to do the math with), I'll offer an alternative viewpoint.

No one publishes their testing on their labels. (Even if they did, people who follow ike Adams regularly aren't likely to believe the labels). So you would have to get your feed tested, compare with oher feeds. Assume the testing Labratories aren't in on "it" (whatever "it" is) and that you can rely on their results.

Great. You have your answer. That bag. Maybe even this season. But chicken feed is made from grains - grains bought in bulk, sourced from all over the nation (and in the case of national brands, milled all over the nation, and shipped all over the nation). At any given time, I can walk into my local TSC and find {Given Name}-branded products (possibly even the same product) milled at different mills on different dates. The testing on bag A tells you nothing about the likely test results of Bag B.

Are you going to buy, send for testing, await results, and then decide whether to use or not? That has nutritional consequences of it own...

Recommend you consider it "impractical" to go down this particular rabbit hole.

If, however, you are not inclined to believe me - and that's fine,I can link studies, but expect them to be dismissed for various reasons - engage in a bit of simple risk management.

Don't eat egg yolks. Glyphosate levels tend to be about 100 times higher in the yolk than the white.

Thanks for the article link, that's interesting!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and the posters here on BYC dismantled that particular study shortly after it was published. I was one of them.

The thread on the test results from another Youtube personality.

and one of our users sent several feed samples off for testing which were provided to her by other users here on BYC

You might find this link useful as well (links to other links)

No, I'm not a poultry nutritionist. I'm just a reasonably well read hobbyist. Sadly, its clear that those advancing the vast majority of these positions (whatever their other qualifications) know far less about the subject than could easily be learned in a weekend of reading and a couple Google searches of the underlying studies. I would not be so eager to put my ignorance on public display, personally, and don't pretend to be an expert. Merely strongly opinionated.

 

[Folly's place]

Agree x100%!!!
I've got other things to worry about, and actually our food supply is pretty safe, including the feed we buy for our birds. Safer than in many places, and much safer than, say, a century ago or further back than that. Looking for perfection isn't all that useful.
Mary

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have been researching this for the past week or so and have come to the conclusion that all poultry feed is contaminated.

The air you breathe is contaminated. The water you drink is contaminated. As scary as that is I'm not planning to stop breathing air or drinking water.

To me the key is dosage. How much does it actually take to hurt you? As long as I am below those levels I'm not that concerned about it. I personally like a factor of safety, I do not want to be right on the cusp of dangerous. If the air quality is so bad due to a dust storm or fire I try to stay indoors so the AC or heat system can filter those bad particles out of the air.

Am I happy to find Glyphosate or any other contaminate in my air, water, or food? Of course not. But as long as those levels are below the levels someone that has used science as a basis instead of opinion to come up with those levels I'm OK with it.

 

[texsuze]

IMHO the "question" is what your personal tolerance level is to a given feed/food contaminant, for yourself and/or your chooks.

It is quite possible that, somewhere, individual small farms following true organic practices might be a source for the grains and other ingredients by which you can create your own chicken feed, especially if they're following this program for their own flocks.

Requires being able to communicate with the actual farmer, obtain the feedstuffs in the volume you'll need, mix/prepare the necessary ingredients and hope your chickens not only like but do well on the feed. Likely to be expensive and time-consuming but if you are diligent and successful with the process you'll have the satisfaction of making the best attempt at providing a clean feed for your chickens. Again, just MHO.

 

[Penpal]

I looked it up on google. Apparently some farmers spray glysophate on wheat to dry it out and thus be able to reap it two weeks earlier. I am only seeing it used on wheat. Farmers in my area do not use it to dry out wheat, which is usually harvested in August, a normally dry month.

As U_stormcrow wrote, you don't know where the wheat in any bag of feed is being grown or if they use glysophate on it.

If it concerns you, you can buy your grain from your local feed elevator and make your own, if you can be sure the methods used to grow and harvest the grain are acceptable to you.

 

[Jimmy W]

You are over reacting.
and you should find a better source than Adams.

The question is not whether there are clinically detectable levels of "x" (pick any X you want) in product "y", its whether the quantity of "x" consumed, over any given timeframe, reaches statistically significant levels of potential harm.

That takes math, and its a kind of math that most humans are REALLY bad at.

If you don't want to do the math (and its VERY difficult to find hard numbers to attempt to do the math with), I'll offer an alternative viewpoint.

No one publishes their testing on their labels. (Even if they did, people who follow ike Adams regularly aren't likely to believe the labels). So you would have to get your feed tested, compare with oher feeds. Assume the testing Labratories aren't in on "it" (whatever "it" is) and that you can rely on their results.

Great. You have your answer. That bag. Maybe even this season. But chicken feed is made from grains - grains bought in bulk, sourced from all over the nation (and in the case of national brands, milled all over the nation, and shipped all over the nation). At any given time, I can walk into my local TSC and find {Given Name}-branded products (possibly even the same product) milled at different mills on different dates made from grains grown at different times, in different places. The testing on bag A tells you nothing about the likely test results of Bag B.

Are you going to buy, send for testing, await results, and then decide whether to use or not? That has nutritional consequences of it own...

Recommend you consider it "impractical" to go down this particular rabbit hole.

If, however, you are not inclined to believe me - and that's fine,I can link studies, but expect them to be dismissed for various reasons - engage in a bit of simple risk management.

Don't eat egg yolks. Glyphosate levels tend to be about 100 times higher in the yolk than the white.

That was an interesting Study and helps confirm my views on how these chemicals cause pollution. Thank You U_Stormcrow.