Testing has confirmed that meat from hogs fed rations supplemented with pet food scraps containing melamine and related compounds is safe for human consumption.

That development led the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to release swine held on farms and to approve the meat from those animals for processing.

Testing of meat from hogs exposed to the contaminated feed confirms that melamine and melamine compounds do not accumulate in pork and are filtered out of the body by the kidneys.

About 56,000 hogs that consumed the feed had been voluntarily held on farms in California, Illinois, Kansas, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Utah.

USDA is expected to provide compensation to producers for certain additional costs incurred as a result of holding the animals.