USDA study confirms link between ethanol by-product and E. coli

Minnesota Public Radio
by Mark Steil
October 17, 2008

A U.S. Agriculture Department study shows a significant increase of potentially harmful E. coli bacteria in cattle that are fed an ethanol by-product known as distiller's grain. Distillers grain is a common ingredient in cattle feed. But researchers say it's too soon to know whether cattle producers should change the amount of distiller's grain they feed to their herds.

St. Paul, Minn. — The study was conducted at the USDA's meat research center at Clay Center, Nebraska. USDA researcher Jim Wells said his team studied 600 steers. Half the group was fed corn; the other half ate feed that contained 40 percent distiller's grain. The scientists tested the animal's fecal matter.

They were on the lookout for one of the most dangerous forms of the bacteria; E. coli 0157:H7. It can cause a wide range of illness in humans, even death. Wells said the steers fed the distiller's grain ration had more of the harmful E. coli in their digestive tracts. And he attributes that increase to the heavy ration of the ethanol by-product.

"I do believe that for the most part the difference is probably due to diet," said Wells. "But whether or not all of the difference is due to diet we cannot say."

Wells said the study found E. coli in almost 15 percent of the samples from the distiller's grain group. That compares to 1.5 percent in the corn-fed group.

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