That is a myth
Investigation
Laying meal is a complex mixture of crude protein, fat, fibre and minerals, especially calcium. The obvious nature of the feed is to provide a high protein food source to allow a great laying capacity, while providing important minerals like calcium to produce hard egg shells. A typical list of ingredients includes ground corn; soybean, meat and bone meal; corn gluten meal, dehydrated alfalfa meal, vitamins A, D3, E and B12, folic acid, and a high calcium source, such as oyster shell. The feeds generally come in two types, 16 and 20, that describe the percentage of calcium present, and are usually a part of the product name.
The investigation involved three phases: checking with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA); determining the historical and current background on the formulation of laying meal from several manufacturers; and following the seized procedures on a sample of the laying meal and chemically examining the extract for phenethylamine compounds or precursors.
The FDA is the regulating agency of the Federal government that recommends and approves industry standards for a wide range of products, including food stuffs, drugs and cosmetics. The FDA is also responsible for monitoring compliance with those standards through chemical analysis of materials. Employees of the FDA, involved during the late 1960s and early 1970s with approving feed formulations, were polled to determine if the use of stimulants, specifically phenethylamines, was ever approved for use in laying meal or any other type of livestock feed products. It was found that stimulants had never been approved by FDA for use in those products (McCormick, A, personal communication).
Three major manufacturers of livestock feed products were contacted concerning the history of the production of their feeds and the current formulation of their laying meal. Nutrena (Stockton, CA), a division of Cargill Corporation, indicated that no stimulants were added to their feeds Layer 16, and Layer 20. Occasionally, an antibiotic might be added to some of their feeds targeted at broilers. The common drug used is Amprolium (Amprol-25), and it is added to prevent coccidiosis, a disease in chickens caused by fungi of the genus Coccidioides that may be parasitic in humans. This drug is approved for use in the feeds by FDA (Gomez D, personal communication). The poultry division of Ralston-Purina (St Louis, MO Layenna) also confirmed no stimulants had ever been added to their laying meals, nor were they presently being added. They did indicate, much like Nutrena, that antibiotics or other FDA approved medications might be mixed with the feeds (Engsten H, personal communication).
Manna Pro Corporation (Los Angeles, CA-Egg Maker 16, Egg Maker 20) indicated that no stimulants had ever been added to laying meals produced by Manna Pro, or the previous companies. Manna Pro was originally the Albers Feed Company, and was subsequently sold to Carnation and Nestle's before finally becoming Manna Pro. This issue was raised with retired members of the technical staff and none could remember the addition of any stimulants to the feed. Quite the contrary, it seems that stress and hysteria are two problems that must be monitored in the layers. In the early days (dates unknown) it was common for Albers to put reserpine, a sedative, into the feeds to treat the hysteria (Aydin A, personal communication). One of the products that Manna Pro, and originally Albers, is known for is Calf Manna. This is a higher quality protein feed designed to be used with calves shortly after weaning. The feed also contains anisole, oats and oat meal, and some herbs, and is known to relieve stress in livestock. While it was designed for use with calves, it is widely used as an additive and supplement feed for cattle, horses (show and race) and other show-type livestock. Manna Pro did indicate that Calf Manna had been mixed into laying meal formulated for sale in Japan. Interestingly, Manna Pro receives inquiries from university level athletes concerning the ingredients of the Calf Manna product. It is not known whether the athletes are trying to determine if the feed contains steroids that might promote growth in the calves (and, thus, could be used to enhance their performance), or if the feed can be used as a high protein food supplement.
The handwritten procedures detailing the extraction of the chicken laying meal obtained during investigations were examined. All were similar in content, with the major difference being that two of them required gentle heat to remove the excess solvent. This similarity is interesting, considering the broad geographical distance from their points of collection. The procedures, which included hand-drawn diagrams of equipment set-ups, similar to notes seized in most clandestine drug laboratories, can be generalised as follows:
* The laying meal is placed in a large container, such as a five-gallon (20 litre) plastic or metal bucket.
* Methanol, acetone, or a mixture of both, is added to the meal and is soaked for four to six hours. The liquid is decanted from the meal through large filter papers or through several layers of cheese-cloth into another bucket.
* The solvent is evaporated at ambient temperature with a fan or by gentle heating on a stove or hot-plate. The residue is then dried and used.
* One recipe suggested placing the residue in cookie sheets and spraying it with ethyl ether, then drying in an oven until hard like a brick, breaking it into chunks, and sifting with a final cut of vitamin B12 or Vita-Blend. This recipe reported an approximate yield of 16 to 20 pounds (7.2-9.0 kg) of material from a 100 pound (45 kg) sack of feed.
Experimental
Nutrena Layer 16 (40 g) was ground in a mortar and soaked in methanol/ acetone (1:1) for 6 hours. The solvent was vac vacuum filtered, collected and removed by gentle heating on a hot water bath. A viscous, green-coloured syrup was recovered. This residue was washed with petroleum ether, which removed most of the green coloration. The petroleum ether-insoluble material was isolated and dissolved in a minimal amount of chloroform/ methanol (4:1). If a water-soluble salt of a phenethylamine were present in the meal, it would be soluble in this solvent mixture.
This residue was examined by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Hewlett Packard Model 58987) using a 12.5 m x 0.20 mm cross-linked 5% methylphenyl silicone (0.33 micron film thickness) column. A temperature program starting at 100°C for 2 minutes, ramping at 15° per minute to a final temperature of 300°C for 2 minutes was used. These same conditions are used to examine suspected clandestine phenethylamine evidence for precursors, reaction by-products and finished product.
Figure 2 shows the total ion (TIC) of the extract. Two major peaks were noted at 9.16 and 1032 minutes. A library search of the first gave a hit of hexadecanoic acid (palmitic acid), commonly found in oils and fats. The second peak also gave a library search return of low confidence of several long-chain carboxylic acids. Other fatty acids identified in the extract were pentadecanoic acid, the methyl ether of oleic acid and the ethyl ester of hexadecanoic acid. This was not surprising since this laying meal contains a minimum of 3% crude fat by weight. The petroleum ether wash was examined and found to be rich in fatty acids.
The primary area of interest of the TIC is the region from about 2.0 to 5.0 minutes, where the phenethylamines and their precursors commonly elute during routine examination. A library search to identify the peaks at 3.15 and 3.48 minutes was unsuccessful. However, these two compounds clearly were not of the phenethylamine class. Both mass spectra lacked the familiar m/z 91 and 77 ions, typical of mono-substituted benzene rings and did not exhibit base peaks of m/z 44, 58 or 72 representing the beta cleavage of the amine in phenylpropanolamine, amphetamine, ephedrine, methamphetamine, methylephedrine or dimethylamphetamine. The spectra did, however, exhibit the typical "picket fence" appearance of long chain hydrocarbons with obvious losses of m/z 14 and 28 in several places.
Conclusion
The myth of chicken laying meals containing stimulants such as amphetamine or methamphetamine which can be diverted and extracted by clandestine drug laboratory operators is laid to rest. The myth was disproved by an investigation on three independent fronts including the Food and Drug Administration; interviews with three major manufacturers of laying meals on the historical and current trends in meal formulations; and by the chemical examination of an extract obtained by using seized clandestine notes.
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
