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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGi3ztG4kxnQ&refer=homeUSDA 
 Holding 20 Million Chickens for Tainted Feed (Update1)

By Alan Bjerga

May 4 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it is  
keeping as many as 20 million chickens from slaughter this weekend as  
officials investigate whether the birds were given tainted feed.

The chickens are in several states on farms contracted to ``large  
commercial operators,'' USDA spokesman Keith Williams said today in a  
phone interview. The chickens are being voluntarily held until at  
least May 7 while the USDA, the Food and Drug Administration and the  
Environmental Protection Agency decide whether they are safe for eating.

The chickens received feed believed to be tainted with melamine, an  
industrial chemical that has been found in wheat gluten imported from  
China, Williams said. The contaminated feed has been connected to the  
deaths of at least 14 pets and caused the quarantine of hog farms in  
six U.S. states this year.

``As early as Monday we will have a risk assessment as to whether  
those 20 million can go'' into the food supply, Williams said.

Williams declined to name what companies contract for the detained  
birds. Ray Atkinson, spokesman for Pilgrim's Pride Corp., the largest  
U.S. chicken processor, said he wasn't aware of the government  
decision. Calls to a spokesman for Tyson Foods Inc., the second  
biggest U.S. chicken processor, weren't immediately returned.



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