Date: December 19, 1997 12:04 PM
Author: Art Welling (artw@lancnews.infi.net)
Subject: Corn from a feed store

Howdy friends. I just thought I would relate a recent experience with buying corn from a feed store. I buy it to feed my chickens, but thought I would grind some for home use. So....... I called and asked questions about the feed.

A few days later I got a call back from their 'nutritionist'. I will post after this my letter to the company about the conversation which should make things clear, but the guy basicly said I was nuts and Pennfield feeds would bomb my house rather than have me buy feed for human use. He also said just go to the store and buy corn meal like everybody else. I said I used to but every time I did it had bugs in it. He said take that up with the store but that's no excuse for actually being so primitive as to try and grind your own, or words to that effect.

Letter follows: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

12-19-97 Dear Pennfield feeds, I would like to relate a phone call I had this morning with an employee of Pennfield. A few days ago I called Pennfield with a question about whole corn feed. I was referred to the voice mail of a nutritionist. This morning he returned my call. My question was a simple one and perhaps not a normal question Pennfield would receive every day. I wanted to know if the Pennfield whole corn I buy at my farm supply was treated with anything that would make it unsafe for humans to eat. In simple terms I wanted to grind my own corn meal for bread and I have Pennfield whole corn on hand to crack for the 18 chickens I keep in our backyard. I wanted to know if there was any specific reason it was unsafe to use. The nutritionist presented me with a perfect lawyers reply. 'Go to the store and buy your corn meal there'. 'Pennfield in no way, shape, or form can recommend any human ever eating any Pennfield corn for any reason at any time'. 'If you take it upon yourself to do this horrible act you risk the lives of your children and the end of the world as we know it'. You might guess that I am paraphrasing what he said, but this is the impression I got from our conversation. Your employee did his best to protect Pennfield, but in so doing he raised some serious questions in my mind. It's NOT ok for humans to eat this corn, in fact it's dangerous, but it IS ok to feed it to my chickens which I will in turn feed to my family ? I think I will start raising my own corn for both the chickens and my family. I trusted Pennfield feeds, but after this morning I am no longer so sure. Thank you for your time. Regards, Arthur Welling

(http://garynorth.entrewave.com/forums/Index.cfm?CFApp=16&Message_ID=7979)

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Date: December 19, 1997 06:35 PM
Author: Lynn (hope1@breeze.net)
Subject: Pennfield corn


Small minds can fill a world can't they? Nice to see the way you handles it. Sheeples would have done differently.

(http://garynorth.entrewave.com/forums/Index.cfm?CFApp=16&Message_ID=7994)

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Date: December 23, 1997 11:32 AM
Author: Al Durtschi (rcox@mail.lcc.whecn.edu)
Subject: Nutritionalists.


I personally have the highest regard for nutritionists as I believe what we eat has more to do with our health than anything else. But I wonder, as this guy works for an animal feed store, he must only work with animal nutrition and this whole idea of humans eating whole grains and foods must be quite new to him.

So what's the difference between cornmeal you buy in the store and whole corn? As far as I know, the only difference is all the nutrition is still in the whole corn.

Fortunately not all animal nutritionists are so narrow minded. This reminds me about when a nutritionist at Whiskas Cat Food called me to let me know their food was fit for human consumption. It seems my son had been at it again with his jokes - wondering if it would be all right to feed his friends cat food without them knowing it. Only I intercepted his phone call - lucky for his friends.

Al

(http://garynorth.entrewave.com/forums/Index.cfm?CFApp=16&Message_ID=8220)

Date: January 20, 1998 03:23 PM
Author: Dayvid T. (sjt@foto.infi.net)
Subject: Ask your feed dealer?

Dear Art and Others. We have horses and my local feed supplier is all ears about Y2k. Today I mentioned your question about corn and he said he would check the Mule City supply in Benson. This is the mill where they actually buy, process, and bag our horse feed. Got a calljust minutes ago and Mule City says there is nothing in their grains that you cannot eat, yes, safe for human consumption. He is ordering a bag of crimped oats (oatmeal) for us to experiment with and a couple of other grain products that we intend to put into pails for long term storage. We pay $5.50 for 50lb. bags of corn and $6.95 for crimped oats. He tells me he will also have wheat(not sure which variety) delivered Friday for us to look at and store also. One thing they mentioned at the mill is all their grain products are scanned with a black lite for aflatoxin. The N.C. Ag Dept. tells me Mule City feed is the only brand that had a 100% pass rate last year for no viral toxicants in any of the samples that were routinely tested by the state ag office. Will follow this note up when I find out more.

(http://garynorth.entrewave.com/forums/Index.cfm?CFApp=16&Message_ID=10965)