|
FROM Bruce Blanton, executive director of the 130-member National Renderers Association in Alexandria, Va.
At least 250 rendering plants operate in the United States. While there are still a few small operations on the outskirts of some cities, he said, modern rendering plants are large and centralized, and the industry's revenues amount to $2.4 billion a year.
In the resulting mash, heavier material drops to the bottom and the lighter stuff floats to the top. Fat is siphoned off the top, filtered and sent through centrifuges to further refine it, Blanton said. Chemical manufacturers turn much of it into fatty acids for lubricants, lipstick, cement, polish, inks and waxes. Other fractions, including gelatinous layers, tallow and grease, go into thousands of products, including soaps, candles, pharmaceuticals, homeopathic medicines and gummy candies.
The heavier protein material on the bottom goes through a separate process, Blanton said. It is dried, squeezed to remove more fat and dried again. The resulting powder is the major ingredient in pet and animal feed. It is a cannibalistic practice that has proved highly profitable.
__________________
FROM Dr. William Heuston, associate dean of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at College Park, Md.
"If you burned all the carcasses, you'd get a terrible air pollution problem,"
"If you put it all into landfills, you'd have a colossal public health problem, not to mention stench. Dead animals are an ideal medium for bacterial growth."
__________________
FROM Jeff Frace, a spokesman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in New York City.
Renderers in the United States pick up 100 million pounds of waste material every day -- a witch's brew of feet, heads, stomachs, intestines, hooves, spinal cords, tails, grease, feathers and bones. Half of every butchered cow and a third of every pig is not consumed by humans. An estimated six million to seven million dogs and cats are killed in animal shelters each year.
__________________
FROM Chuck Ellis, a spokesman for the city's Sanitation Department.
For example, the city of Los Angeles sends 200 tons of euthanized cats and dogs to West Coast Rendering, in Los Angeles, every month.
__________________
FROM Doug Anderson, president of Darling International Inc., a large rendering company in Dallas.
Pet food companies try not to buy meat and bone meal from renderers who grind up cats and dogs, said "We do not accept companion animals," he said. "But there are still a number of small plants that will render anything."
|
