Arsenic In Your Eggs: The Untested Risk That The FDA Continues To Ponder
Now that the recent egg salmonella scare has passed, and attention has finally focused upon the horrific conditions that are hidden within many large poultry farms, there is new evidence that your eggs may also contain arsenic, a potent toxin. According to a recent article from the Salt Lake City Tribune, the Utah Department of Health has connected significantly high levels of arsenic found in the urine of children to the eggs that they consumed.
The USDA and the FDA have been aware for years of the presence of arsenic in poultry meat and liver, but there has been no significant testing to date of arsenic levels in eggs. Arsenic is present in roxarsone, an anti-microbial treatment often included in the feed given to poultry and swine by many livestock producers. In 2004, the USDA looked at several years of data to determine levels of arsenic in poultry muscle and organ tissue. Their conclusion:
"These concentrations are higher than previously recognized in chicken, which may necessitate adjustments to estimates of arsenic ingested through diet and may need to be considered when estimating overall exposure to arsenic."
To date, there has been no regulatory modification regarding the use of roxarsone in poultry feed, or in terms of consumer tolerance levels. This is important and timely, because as the chart below shows, per capita consumption of chicken has been growing rapidly in recent years and now far exceeds that of beef or pork. Poultry consumption levels also now far exceed those which existed in the earlier data that gave the USDA cause for concern.
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| Chart from thecattlesite.com |
According to an article published by the American Chemical Society:
"Over 70% of the broiler chickens produced in the U.S. are fed a diet containing arsenic-based roxarsone.....Complicating the issue is the fact that no one knows the exact amount of arsenic found in chicken meat or ingested by consumers who frequently eat chicken. “Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Department of Agriculture has actually measured the level of arsenic in the poultry meat that most people consume,”
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