The European Commission has been in a two-year deadlock over whether to remove formaldehyde from livestock feed. The embalming ingredient, which feed makers use to kill salmonella, has been linked to cancer.
“EU member countries are locked in ‘comitology,’ the obscure step in EU policymaking in which closed-door technical committees of member countries fight to change existing legislation,” says Politico. “The Commission could break the deadlock, but it hasn’t taken that step yet.”
Spain and Poland have already moved to ban formaldehyde from chicken feed. But some critics of that decision point to a salmonella outbreak, traced back to a Polish egg farm, that killed a five-year old in Croatia and another person in Hungary. Pro-formaldehyde voices say the deaths could have been prevented, but Polish officials claim that the pathogen wasn’t found in the feed given to the hens, and that it entered the supply chain later on.
“From all the information which is available on the link between salmonella in feed and human cases of salmonella, only in very limited cases would a link be established,” said Arnaud Bouxin, deputy secretary-general of the European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC).
Yet lobbyists for the chemical industry argue that formaldehyde is an indispensible public health tool, and that “the importance of formaldehyde use in protecting against salmonella is undisputed,” says Politico. “Large U.S. animal feed maker Anitox Corp has begun a lobbying campaign in Brussels, employing Red Flag consultancy to demonstrate the substance should continue to be used in bird feed.”