As a slow-release organic fertilizer, it supplies phosphorus, calcium, and a small amount of nitrogen to plants.
The improper application of bone and meat meal products in animal nutrition can contribute to the spread of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known in cattle as Mad Cow Disease.
[3] American actress Allison Hayes was poisoned in the 1970s with a calcium supplement made from horse bone containing high amounts of lead, which moved the EPA to develop more stringent importation rules.
According to the Colorado State University, it can only be broken down in acidic soil (pH < 7.0) and releases its nutrients over a span of 1 to 4 months.
[5] The process was first suggested by Justus von Liebig (dissolving animal bones in sulphuric acid) around 1840 and first used in Britain by Rev James Robertson in Ellon, Aberdeenshire in 1841.