It appears that the farmers’ involvement in the production of ethanol has raised all sorts of unintended consequences. First, there is the question of the use of corn for ethanol which some say is causing the rise in the price of food. Second, there is this devastating recession which has caused many ethanol production plants to close or construction to be held up. Third, there is the problem of a lack of distribution infrastructure which is needed to deliver the ethanol to stations and then on to consumers. And now there is a new concern — antibiotics left over due to the production of ethanol.
Enzymes, yeast and sugar are all needed to produce ethanol from corn. But it has been discovered that these elements can cause a variety of ailments in the ethanol. It seems that combining these elements creates a bacteria that competes with the yeast for the sugar and produces lactic acid instead of alcohol if enough of the bacteria is present. And this ruins the fermentation process which is essential for the creation of ethanol.
So to combat this ethanol producers use penicillin and other popular antibiotics to kill the bacteria. And that causes a whole host of problems too. For example, the use of all these antibiotics can cause the development of bacteria that can resist them and the superbugs that could result can be a major health problem and reduce the effectiveness of medicines used to treat us humans. And, of course, there is the concern that the antibiotics can find their way into us humans through the food chain.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is responsible for making certain that the food we eat won’t harm us. But, at least up to now, the FDA hasn’t done anything concerning this issue. But as more people talk up, it appears that the agency is considering more oversight.
The FDA has started to test samples of distillers grain from 60 ethanol plants and it has been discovered that many of the samples do indeed contain antibiotics including penicillin, virginiamycin, erythromycin and tylosin. No one has said whether the amounts found exceed federal guidelines.
If the FDA decides to restrict the use of antibiotics in the ethanol production process, then it will affect the profit potential of producers of ethanol and offer another blow to the beleaguered industry. That’s because distillers’ grain is used to feed livestock. So a source of potential profit when there is already a squeeze on ethanol producers could have a telling effect. What is decided will have a direct impact on how ethanol plants distill their products.
via MPR
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