As in Milorganite, processed treated sewage sludge? No thank you.
At best, it is a lawn care product and not a food garden product. Just
type the name in the search bar for hundreds of discussions about it.

If you mean some other product then could you be more specific?

Dave

http://www.ecua.fl.gov/green/compost-collection

This is the stuff that I'm talking about.

Specifically talking about tomatoes, in Florida commercial growers are not allowed to use biosolids. I wanna know the reasoning behind it. I know California doesn't allow it for tomatoes and leafy greens, I was told. I'm using the product and want facts, not just opinions. I know people are turned off by it, but who is using this type of product for food production. If the risk of getting sick is high, why would they sell it. If it's graded at the highest grade. Also all garden products seem to have some sort of heavy metal.

Three Informed Views on Sewer Sludge (aka Biosolids)

Dr. Caroline Snyder - "Land-applied municipal sewage sludge (biosolids) is a highly complex and unpredictable mixture of biological and chemical pollutants. Biosolids generated in our large industrialized urban centers is very likely the most pollutant- rich waste mixture of the 21st century."

Dr. Marilyn Cameron - "We are concerned that farmers are not being provided adequate information about biosolids and the negative impacts that its use could have on your soils, groundwat...er and surface water sources, livestock health, and property values. Farmers will be the ones left paying the price for any damaged land, contaminated water, or human, wildlife and livestock illnesses, etc. Farmers may also suffer losses resulting from lack of consumer confidence in local foods"
　
Dr. Richard Honour - ""Few in any governments appreciate that nearly all chronic diseases are caused by long-term exposure to low levels of environmental contaminants and pollutants. We should be trying to minimize this exposure, not amplifying it. It is time to end land disposal of Toxic Sewer sludge, and look at cleaner, greener alternatives - gasification / pyrolysis."

Gardening with Biosolids see https://www.planetnatural.com/compost-sewage/  & http://biosolidsbattleblog.blogspot.ca/2016_09_01_archive.html …

As to this specific product -

1) it is mixed at a ratio of 3:1 (biosolids to lawn waste).

2) it is passively, not actively, composted for only 45 days (1/2 the recommended time for animal waste composting) with little to no monitoring and done by a utilities company. The process is only 1 year old so unlike the research done on other biosolids, no long term evaluation of its hazards is possible.

3) per the site there is no approval given for use on food crops but is recommended for

"Commercial uses include turf establishment,
roadside plantings, erosion control, and land
reclamation, restoration and remediation."

4) the food crop it is used on makes no difference. Research has shown that pathogenic bacteria and viruses can continue to thrive in irrigation water in the fields and can be absorbed by the roots of many crops. Whether they can be distributed from the roots throughout the tissues of the produce remains unproven but any and all ground contact must be avoided as direct contamination is well established.

So the question is, why use it?

Dave