Industrial heavy metal waste in Chinese animal feed

The Council of Agriculture (COA) in China announced yesterday that the country’s largest processor of waste copper liquids illegally sold toxic, industrial-grade copper sulfate to at least four livestock feed manufacturers. At least one of those companies did not have a license to produce animal feed in the first place.

They found that industrial heavy metals such as copper sulfate, also known as cupric sulfate, had been mixed with feed for pigs, chickens, ducks and geese which had found its way to farmers all over the country, a practice which could leave heavy metal residues in the animal tissue, the officials said. Read more