The oral administration of chlorate salts reduces "the numbers of Gram-negative pathogens in gastrointestinal tracts of live food animals." "these data indicate that broilers rapidly convert chlorate residues to an innocuous metabolite, chloride ion, and that chlorate residues in excreta remain fairly high during the time around slaughter. Because the target tissue of chlorate is the lower gastrointestinal tract, the relatively high distribution of parent chlorate to inedible gastrointestinal tissues and low distribution to edible tissues is favorable for the biological activity and for food safety considerations."