April 14, 2006

Three Quarters of chickens sold in US supermarkets have traces of arsenic

As if bird flu was not enough of a worry for poultry producers, US researchers announced they have found that a majority of chicken meat sold in the US contains traces of a deadly chemical. 

Nearly three-quarters of the chicken from US producers contained some arsenic, while a third of chickens from premium or organic producers contained the chemical, according to a study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).

The chemical was found in virtually all chicken samples from fast-food outlets sampled in the study.

The findings did not surprise researchers, since arsenic has been approved for use in animal feed for nearly half a century. Farmers use the chemical to treat feed so as eliminate a bacterium which can cause illnesses to chickens.

Arsenic levels in all samples were within acceptable levels under federal law. A law set in the 1960s allow as much as 500 parts per billion of arsenic in uncooked muscle tissue and 2,000 parts per billion in chicken livers or kidneys. However, some industry watchers are concerned since Americans are eating twice the amount of chicken meat since the law was made and the poison could accumulate inside the body.

A federal study of arsenic in drinking water a few years ago found that even low doses of arsenic increased the likelihood of bladder and lung cancer.

However, Richard Lobb, a spokesman for the National Chicken Council, pointed out that if chickens are deemed unsafe at those levels, shrimps would be even more so.  Arsenic levels in shrimps are 40 parts per million, or 80 times that allowed for uncooked chicken, he said.

The FDA has no data that suggest that arsenic in animal feed is harmful to human health.

Government inspectors plan to test chicken livers and muscle meat this year, taking 1,000 samples nationwide, according to a spokesman for the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the USDA.