Scientists Probe Link Between Ethanol-Dependent Cattle Feed, E. Coli Surge - DMR

[hatrack]

Washington, D.C. - A nationwide surge in beef recalls has pointed the finger at an unlikely culprit - the nation's fuel ethanol industry. Studies at two universities suggest that feeding cattle a byproduct of ethanol production known as distillers grains may increase levels of a deadly form of E. coli bacteria.

Concerned about those findings, U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists have recently put 300 cattle on a diet of distillers grains and are testing them regularly for the bacteria. Results won't be known until later this year.

attle producers and the ethanol industry both have a lot at stake in the research. The increased use of corn for ethanol has driven up the cost of grain for livestock feed. But the availability of cheaper distillers grains has offset the impact of those higher corn prices on livestock producers while providing a valuable revenue stream to ethanol plants.

"To those of us here in the Midwest, being able to utilize distillers grains gives us a huge advantage over the rest of the country," said Kevin Carstensen, who operates a cattle feeding operation near Odebolt in northwest Iowa and also is an investor in a local ethanol plant.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5487468.html

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Beef is just recycled trash ...

They used to mix the remains of slaughtered cows into cattle feed, until the inevitable happened, and this led to a disease epidemic in cows.

What do they do with all that blood, you ask? Think infant formula for calves ... no need to waste that milk when Baby can drink Momma's blood, with a little soy meal added ...

[frogcycle]

2. Corn is not an economical source of ethanol anyway

takes too much energy to produce. The research would be better put in to means of producing cellulosic ethanol.

[Duke Newcombe]

3. Switchgrass--

...at 540% more energy produces than from corn processing for ethanol, is very promising, and the stuff literally grows like a weed.

But with Americans catching onto the high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) scheme and cutting into profits, the corn producers have to make up the shortfall somewhere.... :(

Duke