March 26, 2008

New Study: No Link Between DDGs and E. Coli



Kansas State researchers find no link between E. Coli and ethanol byproduct, distillers grainsA new study produced by Kansas State University and funded by the Kansas Beef Council and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association has found no correlation between feeding distillers dried grains (DDGs) and E. Coli.

Unlike our previous studies, we found no evidence to indicate that dietary inclusion of distiller’s grains or corn processing methods have a significant effect on the prevalence E. coli O157 or Salmonella in cattle feces.


Since these are the same researchers that released this study just a few months ago that brought this whole issue to the forefront, it is nice to see these new results. And although I don't think that this study is going to end the debate, it does show that there is good reason to doubt the original findings and to hold off passing judgment until a larger, more thorough study can be completed.

2 comments:

Dave said...

It's weird but pleasing to see the same lab correct itself. Let me know if you ever hear their rational for screwing it up in the first place.

Michael A. Gregory said...

I agree it is kinda weird. The fact that the two tests show different results tends to suggest that there is something wrong with methodology used. Which would call the results of both tests into question.

Or it could be that one or both tests were driven by some sort of objective. This too would call both tests into question.

Either way, I don't think this will undo the damage from the original test results. The media really jumped on the last results and there were articles everywhere. This time there has only been two articles in the media in the last two days that I have seen. And both of those articles were on livestock industry websites.

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