Parkinson et al. (1999) determined the concentration of a large range of organochlorines and organophosphates in spent litter samples from nine meat chicken farms. From this work, only one sample had levels above detectable limits, which was for traces of DDE and p,p’-DDT. Pesticide and insecticide residues can be detected in materials used for bedding that have been grown on soils containing these residues. Therefore, growers and end users need to be aware of the restrictions that apply for spent litter that contains pesticide and insecticide residues (Wiedemann et al., 2015). To ensure material is not contaminated, growers should regularly communicate with suppliers about the origin of bedding. If the levels of contaminates in spent litter exceed jurisdictional requirements, it may be useful to have the feed analysed to ensure pesticides and insecticides are not entering the litter through excreta.

Soils containing pesticide and insecticide residues can allow transfer of these residues to bedding material, so growers and end users need to be aware of the restrictions that apply for spent litter that contains residues. Growers should regularly communicate with suppliers about the origin of bedding material and ask for a commodity declaration when obtaining litter.