April 28, 2004

 

 

FDA Lists Companies For Mad Cow Feed Violations
 

Fewer than 100 of about 14,000 livestock companies have violated regulations meant to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, federal regulators say.

 

The Food and Drug Administration inspected 14,037 businesses in the last five months and found 12 that warranted its most serious action, according to its online database.

 

Another 80 firms had minor violations and were recommended for voluntary action; two were referred to state regulators, records show.

 

The FDA's most serious action typically includes a warning letter and follow- up visit within six months, said Steve Solomon, deputy director of the FDA's office of regional operations in Washington. If improvements aren't made, the agency could recall products or obtain an injunction but has no authority to fine firms.

 

The database was updated April 23; the inspection data were current to April 17.

 

All of the dozen firms -in nine states -had violations that had the potential for mixing prohibited material or had serious labeling or record-keeping problems, Solomon said.

 

Most firms make corrections quickly, Solomon said.

 

The bulwark of the United State's defense against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, is a 1997 ban on feeding cattle protein or bone meal made from other cattle or other ruminants.

 

It was put in place because the most likely means for mad cow disease to spread is by feeding livestock meal that contains nervous system tissue from infected animals. People who eat beef tainted by the aberrant protein that causes BSE can get a fatal variant, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. It's also known as mad cow disease.

 

"We still think it needs a lot of vigilance and we want to make sure nobody becomes complacent to the regulation. We think it is a credible firewall," Solomon said.

 

Since the 1997 ban, FDA has issued more than 50 recalls of livestock feeds, including about a dozen recalls in the past year, he said.

 

The 12 companies with the most serious violations were in Oklahoma, Indiana, Texas, Ohio, Kansas, Georgia, West Virginia, Illinois and Kentucky.