What If My Chicken Eats Wheat?

[missingtortillas]

My ex-mother in law works at one of the grocery stores in the meat department and she met a woman who told her that she cannot eat chicken because they eat "feed" which contain gluten. I really didn't think this was a problem because it's digested or what ever. However, she's convinced. Apparently there's expensive chicken that have not consumed gluten but is this really necessary? Anyone else have any thoughts?

[kareng]

The animal turns the feed into bones, muscles, etc just like you do with your food. If you cut my son open, he doesn't bleed peanut butter. If what the animals ate was a problem, people allergic to grass or corn couldn't eat beef.

[Mizzo]

Simple answer is NO it's not true in anyway.

[Katrala]

If you cut my son open, he doesn't bleed peanut butter.

Hahahaha.

This would apply to my son as well, although with the amount of peanut butter he's consumed so far this summer, he just may bleed it.

[Korwyn]

I don't have an explanation, but there is a lady who came to our GiG group for a while who cannot eat chicken fed on soy. Chicken fed on corn is fine, but chicken fed on soy makes her ill. She apparently has done deliberate blind testing on this and can tell every time.

[Jestgar]

Perhaps, but chickens aren't meant to eat soy, they are meant to eat grains.

[lovegrov]

Animals that eat wheat are safe for us to consume. There's no question about this.

richard

[domesticactivist]

Chickens shouldn't eat soy. The main issue we have is feeding the chickens and rabbits. A sensitive person just couldn't do it, and even if they can't feel it, a celiac shouldn't. maybe gloves and a mask and careful washing up?

[BurningItOff]

f you cut my son open, he doesn't bleed peanut butter.

Hahaha!! I'm going to use that one

[cassP]

i dont know about meat... but grass fed beef tastes better. i DID read that cows cant digest wheat and that grass fed beef is higher in the right kind of fats. the grass fed beef i get looks a lot more like deer meat- maybe it's better quality for us- but i never think there is gluten in meat.

DAIRY may be a different story- as they have been able to find gluten in breast milk- so it could be dangerous. ???

i seriously got intestinal pain from beef one time- but i think it could have been cross contamination. ever since that time- i have asked the meat guy at whole foods to change his gloves before getting my beef- u know - they could have handled one of the pre-made breaded chicken cuts. i have not had a problem since.

i also finally found pasture raised eggs at whole foods. tho, i dont know if i was concerned too much about gluten. i was more concerned on how they raised the chickens. because the other labels of cage free are misleading- they could still be packed in a barn unhumanely.

[modiddly16]

My thoughts on this are that people are crazy. There is a woman at my fiancee's work who told him that her daughter was a celiac but Jesus healed her and that I should go to church more if I want to be healed.

[Poppi]

Chickens shouldn't eat soy. The main issue we have is feeding the chickens and rabbits. A sensitive person just couldn't do it, and even if they can't feel it, a celiac shouldn't. maybe gloves and a mask and careful washing up?

I feed our chickens and I hate it. I switched them from mash to pellets to cut down on the dust but it's still a "hold my breath, act quick, scrub up after" job. The lady at the feed store looked at me like I was crazy when I asked her if it was possible to feed laying hens gluten free.

[domesticactivist]

Even pastured hens get feed. We have ours out in the yard but they get (organic, no GMO) feed, too. Chickens have evolved to eat grains. That's totally different for cows! Cows fed on grain in feed lots have truly disgusting health problems. I'm on my phone so I'm not finding the articles now, but there is science to show that the fat from CAFO raised cows is different (and bad for you) from the fat from pastured cows.

Another thing that can be an issue is that FDA requires meat to be processed with citric acid which is usually derived from GMO corn to 'decontaminate' it. In my state, meat sold locally can use ODA rules instead, which allows vinegar. Obviously if you raise your own the FDA isn't involved.

[bartfull]

How about eggs? I am finding that corn is a major problem for me, and of course chicken feed is corn. Please don't ell me I have to give up eggs! I started getting better, then ate corn and got sick again. That seemed to trigger something, because now I can't even eat Udi's because of the corn starch in it. If I'm super sensitive to corn, do you think I should avoid eggs too?

[Poppi]

How about eggs? I am finding that corn is a major problem for me, and of course chicken feed is corn. Please don't ell me I have to give up eggs! I started getting better, then ate corn and got sick again. That seemed to trigger something, because now I can't even eat Udi's because of the corn starch in it. If I'm super sensitive to corn, do you think I should avoid eggs too?

Laying hens don't eat much if any corn. It makes them fat and doesn't have enough protein to induce laying. And even if they did it shouldn't come through the egg otherwise none of us could eat eggs because laying pellets are almost 100% gluten grains.

[bartfull]

Thanks, Poppi. I just bought a couple dozen from a small farm. They are free range, and they eat well. AND, they taste SO much better than the store bought eggs.

[T.H.]

*cough* Actually, there is a potential cc issue for gluten-fed poultry. But it's NOT that it somehow stays in the tissues without being broken down or anything. It has to do with the undigested grains in the poultry when it is slaughtered, and the defeathering process.

Most poultry is defeathered in a drum-like machine that rolls them over and over, with protrusions that the carcass runs up against as it rolls and these take off the feathers. Some of the contents of the bowels typically leak out at this time and will get on the skin of the bird. Some farmers will do more to ensure more of the bowels are eliminated before defeathers, and some don't.

It is sterilized after the carcass is defeathered, but it can't usually get rid of all the gluten on the skin at that point.

So this can be an issue for someone who is really sensitive.

Re: eggs. I've now met one person with celiac disease, and two with wheat allergies, who get very sick eating eggs from chickens fed wheat. With chickens that were pasture fed with corn supplementation, they don't have an issue.

And I know one gal who is allergic to corn, and she has to make sure her eggs are only fed wheat, rye, barley. She's a celiac, but has no problem with the eggs from wheat fed chickens. My kids get similar eggs, both are gluten-free, and neither seem to have trouble with those eggs either.

Seems like you'd have to be REALLY sensitive for this to be an issue, ya know?

[lovegrov]

I don't think I'm, going to add the defeathering of chickens to my list of gluten worries. And you do know that chickens are then washed and should be washed by the consumer as well?

richard

[T.H.]

And you do know that chickens are then washed and should be washed by the consumer as well?

Yes, I'm aware. Doesn't really get all the nooks and crannies, though, rather like trying to wash gluten out of a collander...only slimier, heh.

The poultry seems just fine for most of the celiacs in the family, but a couple of us got a gluten reaction the majority of the time we tried chicken, so we stay away from it for the moment.

Perhaps someday I'll find some poultry that's plucked by hand, or not fed gluten grains, and check out how we do on it, but it's lower on my priority list for the moment.

[Lori2]

Dogtorj has an article about consuming meat from gluten-fed animals on his website. Open Original Shared Link

If the link doesn't work, the article is "Secondary Glutenization".