07.05.2007

Approximately 30 broiler poultry farms and eight breeder poultry farms in Indiana received contaminated feed in early February and fed it to poultry within days of receiving it. All of the broilers (2.7 M) believed to have been fed contaminated product have since been processed. The breeders (100,000) that were fed the contaminated product are under voluntary hold by the flock owners. Keith Williams, USDA spokesman was cited as saying that USDA, FDA and EPA are overseeing a risk assessment to determine whether the chickens that potentially fed melamine-contaminated feed. Melamine is the major metabolite of cyromazine (IGR).
The European Chemical Industry Ecotoxicology and Toxicology Centre (ECETOC) evaluated the toxicity of melamine, and concluded that melamine is of low acute toxicity, and is neither teratogenic nor genotoxic.