If burying blood/carcasses is good for the soil why is putting meat products in compost bad?

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When you put bury bodies/carcasses in soil it makes the vegetation grow well, but why do they ask you to not put meat in the compost bin?

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9 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

An obvious reason would be the smell. If you bury remains deep underground, they can break down and decompose without emitting foul smells or risk spreading disease. Even buried 6ft down, some animals like dogs can still smell the decomposing remains. In a compost heap they will start to rot and smell with very little to contain it. The smell alone will attract large amounts of insects and other critters, potentially spreading harmful bacteria and disease.

Anonymous 0 Comments

In the case of compost in your garden, the problem is food safety and having a nice garden. The first problem is that rotting meat stinks, and attracts flies and rats that can spread diseases, and it is not something you what in your garden.

The second one is that your meat can contain bacteria that then live in the compost and contaminant vegetables you use it on.

You can compost meat and dead animals there is a lot of instruction online for example compost cattle that have died. You need to cover it very well to keep scavengers away and have absorbent material below it. You also need to let it take enough time to finish. Even if it starts to stink that is not a large problem on a farm because you can do it away from where you live. So a lot harder than just composting plant products.

There can also be bacteria in the water that run off the pile so you need to keep it far enough away from any stream or when you just grow food to eat.

So impractical in a garden you just add material on top where it is close to where you live but possibly on the scale of a farm where you can cover it very well directly and let it take time to decompose away from anything that could be contaminated with runoff.

Anonymous 0 Comments

My city composts dairy, egg, and meat & fish products including bones and shells. (Even dryer lint is on the list). And then the composted material is offered back to residents to use.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The only problem is that it attracts rodents and also larger animals. Otherwise, sure, it’s fine.

Anonymous 0 Comments

You can, but you’d have to make a specific composting bin for meat products with some precautions.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Where does it say that you can’t put meat products in compost?

Anonymous 0 Comments

two reasons:

1. the smell; rotting meat stinks and attracts flies/maggots and will contaminate veges that you then use it on.
2. same reason you don’t put bread or grain in the compost – you’ll attract rodents.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Most people don’t know how to compost properly and so smells, pathogens, and invading critters become a problem. Grew up composting meat on a residential scale but we were really careful to build piles correctly and always cover the food with straw, sawdust, etc. to act as a filter for smell.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The decomposition process is different underground than in compost.

Underground its anaerobic and driven mostly by bacteria and fungi.

In compost its mostly insects and small invertebrates driving the initial process. Putting meat in compost is usually near the surface, so aside from the smell as it goes rancid, there is also rats and other scavengers that will make a mess to get to it, and a whole different cast of insects that go for meat