Contamination probe hurting 4 Utah farms

While the risk to humans stemming from the ongoing melamine investigation may be small, the financial impact may be real to a few Utah farmers.

At the four northern Utah hog farms affected by the investigation, animals and animal meat placed on voluntary hold at the request of the government have aged past prime marketability, Larry Lewis, spokesman for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said Wednesday.

Even if, as investigators suggested was possible on Tuesday, the animals aren't euthanized and are allowed to go to market, Lewis said some damage already might be done.

"There's something like 90 animals that were slaughtered early on, that have been placed on hold and not allowed to go to market, and the owner is asking about the possibility of compensation," Lewis said. "Meanwhile, all the other hogs that are on hold are growing in size, and are now past the prime market weight. So it is affecting their marketability and value, and the owners of those are wanting compensation as well."

It isn't yet clear whether the Utah farmers will receive any money, for culling their herds if necessary or for the delay in getting their animals to market. However, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, the dollar impact if the hogs are not marketable could reach $250,000 (based on 2005 estimates of a dollar-per-head value of $100).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and USDA have confirmed that pet food imported from China into the United States was contaminated by wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate that contained melamine and its compounds. Melamine is a chemical found in plastics and pesticides and is not approved for use in pet or human food in the United States.

Since March 16, more than 100 brands of pet food have been recalled, an unknown number of pets have been sickened or killed, and hog and poultry farms in a handful of states — including Utah — have placed holds on their animals while the government continues its tests.

On Tuesday, the FDA and USDA said that one fish farm in the United States also may have received tainted feed. The agencies did not disclose the location of the farm, or how many fish were involved.

About 2,500 Utah hogs and 50 laying hens remain under a voluntary hold by their owners. Lewis said the UDAF has not yet concluded any tests on whether the feed the Utah animals received was actually contaminated.

"We're a support function for USDA and FDA, and we're going to wait for the USDA to tell us how to proceed," Lewis said. "We're expecting and hoping that some word will come by the end of the week."