<p>I'm not familiar with pesticide legislation in the United States, but I do know that all oats are grown with human consumption in mind. Only the lower grades are used for animal feed. In the rare event that high grade oats become contaminated with insect pests, they would also be consigned to animal feed. Animals are less fastidious than humans, and don't mind a few beetles in their oats. It is highly improbable that your animal feed would be contaminated with pesticides, except to the extent that all non-organic farm produce has minute traces of it.</p>

<p>Most mushroom growers in UK use horse manure or stable muck as a substrate for growing their crop. The manure has to be suitably matured and not fresh. I would imagine it is cheaper than animal grade oats.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-10T17:23:28.157Z
Thanks. Re: Horse manure, yes, it is often used as a bulk substrate. Many growers create grain spawn first, however, then mix the grain into the pasteurized bulk sub. This gives the mycelium a jump start over any contaminates.
skibulk
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-10T10:56:24.283Z
2019-11-10T10:56:24.283Z
Michael Walsby
<p>I'm looking into growing edible oyster mushrooms. I'm considering using whole-oat horse feed in the growing process. I realize that additional steps are taken to ensure food is fit for human consumption, but for my purposes, I'd be fine with having a few dead bugs in the mix. However, I am wondering if there could be additional chemicals in horse oats over human oats. In the USA, are pesticides regulated differently for animal vs human consumption? Anything else I should be concerned about?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-10T06:07:43.677Z
i do not think this question is on topic here,it might be a better fit on a health related part of SE.
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-11-10T13:17:03.150Z
@trondhansen the Agriculture tag has the description "The cultivation of food and materials, specifically from or derived from plants and animals using traditional or modern industrial practices." I posted here after reading this Stack Meta post: https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/295119/242388
skibulk
<agriculture><united-states>
In the USA, are pesticides regulated differently for animal vs human consumption?
skibulk
# In the USA, are pesticides regulated differently for animal vs human consumption?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-11-09)

I'm looking into growing edible oyster mushrooms. I'm considering using whole-oat horse feed in the growing process. I realize that additional steps are taken to ensure food is fit for human consumption, but for my purposes, I'd be fine with having a few dead bugs in the mix. However, I am wondering if there could be additional chemicals in horse oats over human oats. In the USA, are pesticides regulated differently for animal vs human consumption? Anything else I should be concerned about?

**Tags:** agriculture, united-states

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: i do not think this question is on topic here,it might be a better fit on a health related part of SE.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 the Agriculture tag has the description "The cultivation of food and materials, specifically from or derived from plants and animals using traditional or modern industrial practices." I posted here after reading this Stack Meta post: https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/295119/242388  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-11-10. Score: 1

I'm not familiar with pesticide legislation in the United States, but I do know that all oats are grown with human consumption in mind. Only the lower grades are used for animal feed. In the rare event that high grade oats become contaminated with insect pests, they would also be consigned to animal feed. Animals are less fastidious than humans, and don't mind a few beetles in their oats. It is highly improbable that your animal feed would be contaminated with pesticides, except to the extent that all non-organic farm produce has minute traces of it.

Most mushroom growers in UK use horse manure or stable muck as a substrate for growing their crop. The manure has to be suitably matured and not fresh. I would imagine it is cheaper than animal grade oats.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks. Re: Horse manure, yes, it is often used as a bulk substrate. Many growers create grain spawn first, however, then mix the grain into the pasteurized bulk sub. This gives the mycelium a jump start over any contaminates.  

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