WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Increasing the amount of ethanol in motor fuel, as authorized today by the Environmental Protection Agency, will eventually hit food shoppers in their pocketbooks, the National Chicken Council said today.

 "Rising grain prices driven by the voracious demand for feedstock from the heavily subsidized ethanol industry caused an increase of six percent in the retail price of fresh whole broiler chickens from 2008 to 2010," said George Watts, president of the National Chicken Council.  "Channeling even more corn into ethanol will, in time, only drive up the cost of chicken even more.  Consumers will end up paying for the ethanol industry's demands.  It is time to put an end to interference in the market and government mandates that benefit the ethanol industry and raise the price of corn."

EPA issued a partial waiver to allow gasoline marketers to add up to 15 percent ethanol to motor fuel, a sharp increase from the current limit of 10 percent.   EPA acted at the behest of ethanol industry organizations.

The National Chicken Council represents integrated chicken producer-processors, the companies that produce and process chickens.  Member companies of NCC account for more than 95 percent of the chicken sold in the United States.

SOURCE National Chicken Council

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http://www.nationalchickencouncil.com