BeerBorg

Just ran across this story regarding breweries selling their spent grains to livestock farmers for feed.

Proposed FDA rule restricting use of spent grains

Sounds like some feed producer lobbyists have been spreading cash at the FDA.

The little Crooked Letter Brewery in Mississippi we visited told us that they could no longer give grains to farmers unless they are packed a certain way and inspected. Guess what? They don't have money for that but the farmers lobby put up quite a fight.
Another reason I'm for small government.

Beer-lord wrote:The little Crooked Letter Brewery in Mississippi we visited told us that they could no longer give grains to farmers unless they are packed a certain way and inspected. Guess what? They don't have money for that but the farmers lobby put up quite a fight.
Another reason I'm for small government.

Same deal here in Florida as well. Has to be in a certain package, weighed, etc. etc.

I'd rather they fed spent grain to critters then some of the other stuff like um... ground up bits of waste critter... that doesn't belong in their diet. They are not cannibals by nature. Doing stupid stuff like that is what got Mad Cow going. Spent grains are not going to cause harm to them, or us, only some jackholes profit margin.

Our gubbermit' in action once again. How silly. Not a single case of spent grain causing a problem but yet they are going after it. Probably cuz they arent getting their "cut" via spent grain inspectors, spent grain taxes, and spent grain PACs paying for their booze and hookers. This was truly a win-win for all parties.

I understand the need to regulate food to an extent, but I'm not sure about this.

This could affect many things like the price of craft beer, the cost of beef, etc.

I may need to go have a beer and think this over.

I'd have to know more about "spent grain" before I could form an intelligent opinion. If these means grain that has all of its nutritional value leeched out of it from the mash, then essentially this would seem to me to be animal abuse via starvation. I'd have to side with the FDA if that were the case. But, again, I don't really know what it is, just guessing.

Spent grains are actually quite high in protein and fiber. This is what makes them attractive to cattle farmers (as well as the low cost). With cattle farmers in the family, I can assure you that they want the cattle to gain weight not starve them. The high protein content of the spent grain is a great supplement to their normal feed.

A lot of brewers give the spent grain away to local farmers, Ommegong I do know has an overhead loader for the farmers to pick up, and the farmers are loving it. Now the brewers will need to spend to dispose of, or if they donate to local compost, I'm sure someone in the fertilizer PACS will want that regulated too.

gwcr wrote:Spent grains are actually quite high in protein and fiber. This is what makes them attractive to cattle farmers (as well as the low cost). With cattle farmers in the family, I can assure you that they want the cattle to gain weight not starve them. The high protein content of the spent grain is a great supplement to their normal feed.

Agree 100%
Dairy farmers in my area have been using it for years. I have added it to my pig feed, I got it in 55 gal drums that a friend was getting from Southern Tier Brewing. My pigs loved it and it has good protein content.

Bluejaye wrote:I'd have to know more about "spent grain" before I could form an intelligent opinion. If these means grain that has all of its nutritional value leeched out of it from the mash, then essentially this would seem to me to be animal abuse via starvation. I'd have to side with the FDA if that were the case. But, again, I don't really know what it is, just guessing.

No animal abuse on this one, it is usually mixed with other feeds to get the protein level where required.
I would guess the FDA would like to have some control of this as all government agencies like to do. When you buy any type of package feed, it has to have a guaranteed analysis, dog food for an example, but spent grains isn't packed feed. I say let the breweries and farmers work together as they have been doing for years and keep the FDA red tape out of it for the best interest of both businesses.

People,

Why are you all so worried about this? Didn't you read that the Government is taking care of this? It's all good. With the Government involved you can rest assured that it will all be okay. Just go back to your lives and doing whatever it is that you were doing. And don't forget to tune into CNN and MSNBC. And make sure you don't miss the latest news on Bill Maher and John Stewart about those terrible Conservatives and how they're ruining our country.

Chickens love it too. This is the government screwing everything up again as usual. Call it Obamagrain. Hillary says, "What difference does it make?"

One of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite POTUSes.

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."

gwcr wrote:Spent grains are actually quite high in protein and fiber.

Ah, I see, thanks. I didn't realize the mash leaves protein intact and just removes the sugar. Obviously fiber is simply filler without any caloric value.