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Fact Check: Tom Philpott and DDGs
Posted 13 May 2013 in
Tom Philpott of Mother Jones recently published a sensationalist, irresponsibly reported blog post insinuating that ethanol production is linked to E. coli contamination. This post ignored public health trends, as well as a wealth of peer-reviewed data on the safety of DDGS, and cherry-picked one study that did not demonstrate a causal link.
There have been a number of peer-reviewed independent studies on food safety that have addressed the issue of distillers grains, a co-product of ethanol production, and they all come to the same conclusion: using DDGs, a high quality animal feed, does not have the health impacts that Philpott alleges. Most importantly, a new study out of Kansas State University (Dec 2012), the same university that published a study in 2007 that the article cites, corrected their previous work, saying:
“There were no significant differences in the concentration of E. coli O157:H7 between animals receiving DDGS and the one receiving only steam-flaked corn. Neither the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 positive samples, nor the concentration of the bacteria in the positive samples, were affected by the presence or absence of DDGS in the diets. These observations concur with the absence of statistical differences in the colonization rate and prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in the gastrointestinal tract between the two groups of animals. There was no relationship between the use of DDGS in the diet and the level of E. coli O157:H7 shedding in cattle in this study.”
There are a wealth of additional, recent peer reviewed studies highlighting the fact that there are no e. coli health risks associated with DDGs:
(May 2013) published in Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, the study says: “DDGS had no effect on the STEC O157 prevalence in cattle populations.”
(Jan. 2013) published in Journal of Food Protection, the study says: “Feeding diets containing DDGS had no effect (P > 0.05) on the intensity or duration of fecal shedding of E. coli O157:H7 compared with the standard barley grain finishing diet.”
(Dec. 2012) published by the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute, the report says: “Neither corn distillers grains, nor soy glycerin, in steam-flaked corn-based diets supported shedding of E. coli O157:H7.”
(Feb. 2012) a study by Canadian Dept. of Ag published in the Journal of Animal Science says: “Inclusion of DDGS in cattle finishing diets had no effect on fecal shedding (P = 0.650) or persistence (P = 0.953) of E. coli O157:H7.”
There are more studies to cite, but suffice it to say Philpott selectively picked an old study to create a sensationalist story where there is none.
A quick look at public health trends supports the truth outlined in the above studies: E. coli incidences found in ground beef sampling have dropped by more than 90% in the last decade. This is the same timeframe that DDGs production has increased many times over:
DDGs are not only safe, they are among the highest quality feed available. They are an export item for the US, helping to support economic growth, and they are a key to meeting the rising demand for livestock across the globe. Don’t let an irresponsible journalist trick you into believing otherwise.
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