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.