Government alleges cattle sold for human consumption contained illegal drug residues

The U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has filed a complaint for permanent injunction against Scenic View Dairy of Hamilton, Mich., its president, and three of its managers alleging that they sold dairy cows for human consumption that contained illegal drug residues in edible tissues.

The complaint, filed Aug. 31, 2010, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, also alleges that the defendants, despite numerous warnings, sold for slaughter dairy cows that were treated with drugs contrary to the drugs’ FDA-approved labeling and without a valid veterinary prescription authorizing such use.

The complaint alleges that violations occurred from 2002 through 2010 at Scenic View Dairy’s three farms, located in Fennville, Freeport, and Gowen, Mich. Company president Michael D. Geerlings, Fennville farm manager Mark A. Lucas, Freeport farm manager Michael J. Van Dam, and Gowen farm manager Jeremy A. Portell were all named in the complaint.

Between 2001 and 2010, the FDA notified the defendants of its inspectional findings on at least eight occasions, and USDA sent Scenic View at least 11 letters regarding illegal tissue residues. The complaint alleges that the defendants continue to violate the law despite these warnings.

The complaint is based, in part, upon illegal neomycin, penicillin, and sulfadimethoxine drug residues that the USDA found in the edible tissue of dairy cows that defendants had offered for sale for human consumption.

Neomycin, penicillin, and sulfadimethoxine are antibiotics. The sale of animals for human food that contain illegal levels of drugs can lead to the development of bacteria that resist antibiotics and can cause reactions in people with drug allergies. FDA regulations for animal drugs include a specified time to withdraw an animal from treatment prior to slaughter so that a drug is depleted from edible tissue to levels safe for humans.

Scenic View Dairy buys cows primarily from New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Vermont and sells to slaughterhouses in other states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

This article continues at:  http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm224574.htm

**Listeria contamination and other repeated violations, prompted this FDA action.**

The U.S. Department of Justice, in an action initiated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, is seeking a permanent injunction against NY Gourmet Salads, Inc., a processor of ready-to-eat deli salads, seafood salads, and cream cheeses in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Leonard F. Spada, the company's president. The complaint, filed July 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charges the defendants with violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by introducing into interstate commerce food that was prepared, packed, or held under insanitary (unsanitary) conditions and that may have become contaminated with filth or may have been rendered injurious to health. FDA inspections have documented insanitary conditions at NY Gourmet's facility and a failure to follow applicable FDA regulations concerning the production of food and seafood products. Although the company promised to address and correct deficiencies following inspections in 2006, 2007, and 2009, the FDA's most recent inspection in March 2010 confirmed that the company continued to operate without adequate controls...

...“The continued presence of L. mono in a food processing facility is a particularly significant public health risk,” said Michael A. Chappell, acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. “In this case, the L. mono was not only found in the facility, but later turned up in a sample of the firm's food. We will not allow food producers to put consumers at risk by repeatedly breaking promises to clean up their facilities.” The company sells its products to customers in New York and New Jersey, including a New Jersey gourmet supermarket with locations in Brick and Freehold, and an airline caterer in Jamaica, N.Y.

“Based on their longstanding pattern of conduct, defendants, unless restrained by order of this court, will continue to manufacture and distribute articles of food in violation” of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, the complaint said.
 

This article can be found in full at:  http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm220793.htm

By Leonard Sparks

SOUTH FALLSBURG — Federal regulators ordered Murray's Chicken to cease processing at its South Fallsburg poultry plant Tuesday, throwing hundreds of workers into limbo as the company disputed government concerns about food safety. Steve Gold, Murray's vice president of sales and marketing, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service allowed the company to ship chicken packaged Monday but ordered it otherwise closed until it corrects "facility issues."

"It has nothing to do with the food safety of the product," said Gold. "We're doing everything we can to make sure our employees get back to work." Neither Gold nor Brian Mabry, an FSIS spokesman, would identify the specific issues underlying the shutdown. But Mabry said FSIS' concerns are directly related to food safety.

The agency sent Murray's a written warning in January concerning "salmonella controls," he said. The concerns centered on Murray's ability to identify and minimize contamination by pathogens such as salmonella, said Mabry. The written warning was followed by a notice in April about sanitation concerns and noncompliance with FSIS regulations, said Mabry. FSIS issued another notice Monday telling Murray to suspend operations.

"While FSIS is sympathetic to the economic implications of the suspension, our primary concern is to fulfill our regulatory responsibility to protect the public health," said Mabry.

This article continues at:  http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100728/BIZ/7280363/-1/SITEMAP

**Please Note:  S.T.O.P. strongly disagrees with the National Chicken Council's opinion below on USDA's new standards for Salmonella and Campylobacter.**

New federal regulations on the presence of naturally occurring salmonella and campylobacter on raw poultry are unsupported by science and contrary to law and should be withdrawn, according to a National Chicken Council (NCC) press release.

“The chicken industry recognizes the importance of preventing foodborne illness and enhancing public health protection,” NCC said in comments filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS). “The industry has made great strides in recent years in reducing the number of broiler carcasses testing positive for salmonella, achieving a two-fold reduction in the prevalence of salmonella on chicken carcasses on a national basis since the industry’s voluntary adoption of the NCC Salmonella Reduction program in 2004.”

According to the NCC, there is no scientific justification for USDA’s claim that changing its “performance standard” for salmonella on raw chickens, and establishing a new one for campylobacter, will reduce foodborne illness in humans. In fact, NCC noted, the burden of salmonellosis in the country has actually increased slightly in recent years even as the chicken industry successfully reduced the prevalence of Salmonella on raw chickens. Salmonella is found in a wide variety of uncooked foods.
Moreover, NCC said the new government standards have been adopted in violation of federal law governing new regulations, and go beyond FSIS's legal authority. NCC explained that the decision of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Supreme Beef Processors vs. USDA made it clear that salmonella, by itself, is not an adulterant in meat and poultry and that USDA therefore lacks legal authority to regulate it. Salmonella and campylobacter on raw products are easily destroyed by the heat of normal cooking, NCC noted.

“These regulations are likely to increase costs significantly for processors and will result in little or no positive impact on human illness and public health. Given that FSIS’ legal standing and approach to promulgating standards is shaky at best, that the Agency clearly violates the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and that the new standards are beyond the Agency’s statutory authority, arbitrary and capricious, and not supported by science, NCC strongly objects to the Agency’s planned implementation of these standards. Accordingly, NCC requests that FSIS withdraw the Notice and reconsider its legal and scientific basis,” the NCC comment said.

This article taken from:  http://poultryproductionnews.blogspot.com/2010/07/ncc-urges-usda-to-withdraw-new.html