The identity of companies that use recycled animal waste in animal food is classified information, says the United States government. A request for information on which companies use recycled animal waste, better known a plain ol’ poop, in animal food production, was denied by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) citing homeland security issues.

Who knew that such having such information might risk the security and safety of our nation? Can the identity of the makers of animal feed that use shit as an ingredient destabilize the U.S. government?

According to the person, whose identity shall remain anonymous, who requested the sensitive information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services they were told that information was classified.

While the practice of recycling animal waste can be documented back to the mid 1900’s, and its use, unfortunately for animals that have to eat that shit,  has escalated dramatically since the turn of this century, raw data on this practice is hard to come by. FDA form #3537, the DHHS/FDA Food Facility Registration Form, is a prime example of this.

In this form, registrants may select from 26 different types of product categories of foods for animal consumption. Number 20 of these 26 categories is titled “Recycled Animal Waste Products.”

When the FDA was contacted regarding this form and requested a list of the individuals and/or corporations who had checked off this box as part of their registration with the FDA, assuming that this would be public information obtainable by a Freedom of Information Act request, if need be, they were told that the FDA would not release this information to the public as it had been “classified as a homeland security issue.”

While struggling to comprehend this classification by searching for a rational or legal explanation, I gave up. Instead, I decided to find examples of human food using the theme of poop as a decoration device. To my surprise, and mortification, there was a plethora of poop cakes decorated with an amazing variety of turd shaped frosting topped desserts adorned with the occasional candied fly.

Enjoy!