By Kristen George

In response to a recent scare over contaminated feed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that hogs exposed to the feed will not be processed into food products. However, farmers affected by this incident, including one in South Carolina, will be compensated for their losses.

Tom Caver, South Carolina’s state veterinarian, praised South Carolina’s Livestock and Poultry Health Inspection Services officials, as well as the S.C. Department of Agriculture, the USDA, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and others for their swift resolution of what could possibly have been a consumer nightmare if the swine had been processed.

“We feel like we reacted very quickly, moving to get the situation under control before it affected consumers or other farmers,” Caver said. “We have identified one farm with approximately 800 hogs that may have been exposed to the feed and those hogs have been placed under quarantine.”

In addition, a S.C. meat processing plant is voluntarily holding swine believed to have been exposed to the contaminated feed.

Caver explained that the hogs are healthy, but a trace amount of melamine has been detected in their urine. It is not known whether the melamine could affect humans if consumed in such a small quantity, and both the USDA and the FDA believe the possibility of illness in humans would be low but have agreed that it is prudent to take this extreme measure.

"Based on current information, this doesn’t seem like it would be a problem; all the hogs are healthy,” Caver said. “But the USDA is taking this precaution because they can’t answer all the safety questions with any certainty.” 

According to the FDA, a shipment of rice protein imported from China was contaminated with melamine and melamine-related compounds. The product was imported during the week of April 2 by Wilbur-Ellis, an importer and distributor of agricultural products. The rice protein was used in the production of pet food and a byproduct was used to produce animal feed.

The byproduct used to make animal feed, known as salvage pet food, is actually simply misshapen or discolored pellets that wouldn’t pass a visual inspection to be included in bagged dog food but is still of the same nutritional quality, the FDA said.

“This really is a good practice on the part of the farmers,” Caver said. “It’s a good source of protein for the hogs. It’s just unfortunate that the concentrate used in its production was contaminated.”

Eight pork producers in the states of California, Kansas, North Carolina, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah are known to have purchased the feed. These combined operations involve approximately 6,000 hogs.

To help restore farmers’ purchasing power, the USDA is offering to compensate producers who euthanize swine that were fed the contaminated product. The USDA is also offering the expertise and assistance of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service personnel in carrying out depopulation activities to ensure animals are euthanized and disposed of in accordance with federal and state laws.

The Livestock-Poultry Health unit of the Clemson University Public Service and Agriculture will work with the USDA to ensure the farm affected in South Carolina is properly compensated for the depopulation of its hog supply.