FDA Bans Three Arsenic Drugs Found in Poultry and Pig Feeds

In resolving a longstanding dispute, the Food and Drug Administration has announced that it will rescind approval for three of the four arsenic drugs that had been used in animal feeds at the request of the companies that market them.

The companies, Zoetis and Fleming Labs, already had largely withdrawn the three drugs from the market after recent studies showed levels of arsenic in chicken that exceeded amounts that occur naturally.

The compounds — roxarsone, carbarsone and arsanilic acid — have been used in 101 drugs added to feed for chickens, turkeys and pigs to prevent disease, increase feed efficiency and promote growth, according to the Center for Food Safety, which together with several other advocacy groups filed a petition almost four years ago seeking to ban the drugs in animal feeds.

“Zoetis withdrew roxarsone from the market voluntarily two years ago, and the companies have moved to withdraw the other two,” said Richard Sellers, vice president for feed regulation and nutrition at the American Feed Industry Association. “Now the F.D.A. is legally withdrawing their ability to market those drugs.”

The issue of arsenic in food has drawn increased public scrutiny since research last year by Consumer Reports found substantial arsenic levels in rice. Arsenic residue in rice often comes from the water used to grow it, and poultry feces are widely used as fertilizer for a variety of crops.

Pfizer, which spun its animal health division off as Zoetis this year, withdrew its roxarsone drug, 3-Nitro, from the market in 2011 after the F.D.A. found inorganic arsenic in chicken livers. “The product is no longer manufactured or used,” said Ashley Peterson, vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at the National Chicken Council. “No other feed additives containing arsenic are currently used in broiler meat production in the United States.”

Nitarsone, the last of the four drugs the groups sought to ban from animal feeds, is the only known treatment for blackhead, or histomoniasis, a disease that can kill turkeys. Keith M. Williams, a spokesman for the National Turkey Federation, said nitarsone made from organic arsenic is used in the first six weeks of a turkey’s 20-week life span and that there is no other known treatment.

The F.D.A. said it would continue to study the effects of nitarsone.

FDA Bans Three Arsenic Drugs Found in Poultry and Pig Feeds

The FDA will rescind approval for three of the four arsenic drugs that had been used in animal feeds at the request of the companies that market them. The companies, Zoetis and Fleming Labs, had already withdrawn most of the three drugs from the market after recent studies showed levels of arsenic in chicken that exceeded amounts that occur naturally. The compounds—roxarsone, carbarsone and arsanilic acid—have been used in 101 drugs added to feed for chickens, turkeys and pigs to prevent disease, increase feed efficiency and promote growth, according to the Center for Food Safety, which together with several other advocacy groups filed a petition almost four years ago seeking to ban the drugs in animal feeds,

Federal Government Shutdown's Impact on Grocers

The National Grocers Association has laid out the impact of the federal government's shutdown on grocery businesses. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will continue operations; WIC benefits wil be halted, delayed briefly on the state level where applicable; and food safety inspectors would be minimally impacted as these roles are deemed "essential" and should continue to run during a shutdown

Starbucks Trademarks Fizzy Drinks

Starbucks did not offer details on how its machine works, but according to fan site Starbucksmelody.com, here’s how the beverages are made: “The barista poured a little [flavoring] into a special shaker, added water, and then placed it into a special machine that seemed to be simultaneously shaking it and adding CO₂.” The machine can carbonate such drinks as iced tea, coffee, and lemonade.

Trademarking the Fizzio machine might look like a step toward marketing a Starbucks at-home soda machine (the company is already retailing equipment, such as its Verismo coffee machines), but spokesman Zack Hutson says, “There are no plans to sell at-home.” The customer response to the chain’s soda test has been positive so far, and the trademark only “pertains to the in-store test,” according to Hutson. “We take steps to protect our IP. This is a normal course of doing business.” He declined to share any information on sodas coming to other markets.

Whether or not Starbucks will offer Fizzio exclusively in cafés, it seems intent on taking advantage of America’s growing thirst for do-it-yourself soda. Users can customize their drinks (to be bubblier, for example, or have fewer calories) and such makers as SodaStream (SODA) market them as environmental alternatives to bottled sodas, which require fuel for shipping.
The SodaStream machine, invented in 1903, took off only recently in the U.S. The company took in nearly $437 million in revenue last year, up 51 percent from 2011. More than one-third came from the Americas, which was only about 20 percent of SodaStream’s business in 2010.

Competitors have followed. In August, French company Mastrad (ALMAS:FP) launched a machine called PureFizz. Cuisinart (LCUT) introduced a sparking beverage maker earlier this year and also markets and sells soda makers by Primo, a Winston-Salem (N.C.) bottled water company. Green Mountain (GMCR), the maker of Keurig coffee brewers, applied for a trademark in July for a still and sparkling beverage machine called Karbon.