Arsenic species in poultry feather meal

Area of Science:

• Environmental Chemistry
• Food Safety
• Toxicology

Background:

• Organoarsenical drugs like roxarsone are common in US broiler chicken production.
• Poultry feathers, processed into feather meal, accumulate arsenic.
• Feather meal is used as an animal feed additive and organic fertilizer, raising exposure concerns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the presence and speciation of arsenic in feather meal products.
• To assess the potential human health risks associated with arsenic in feather meal.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of twelve feather meal samples from the US and China.
• Arsenic speciation using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography/Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (HPLC/ICPMS).

Main Results:

• Arsenic detected in all samples, ranging from 44-4100 μg kg(-1).
• Inorganic arsenic species constituted 37-83% of the total arsenic.
• Roxarsone was not detected in any of the analyzed feather meal samples.

Conclusions:

• Feather meal is a previously unrecognized source of arsenic exposure in the food system.
• The dominance of inorganic arsenic in feather meal warrants attention for human health risk assessment.
• Potential risks exist through direct food consumption and indirect exposure via organic fertilizer use and animal waste management.