Broilers' diets usually are composed of 3 to 4 percent fish and poultry by-products, with sometimes as much as 6 percent. In producing broilers, feed accounts for 70 percent of the total cost. But if the feed quality has deteriorated, the birds may digest inefficiently, with production costs rising even higher. Yearly, Mississippi produces 700 million broilers. When broilers are not digesting food properly, producers often must feed them up to 5 percent more than normal to meet the birds nutritional needs.
Growers have to use significantly more feed to produce the same broiler.
Keirs noticed this health problem while working with the veterinary college's avian health monitoring program. He then began working on the project with Dr. Lloyd Bennett, a chemist and MSU researcher. Together they developed a way to test for biogenic amine levels. Today, the veterinary college is apparently the only lab in the United States doing commercial work that does this test. It is one of about 15 worldwide that tests for these toxins in by-products.