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Dairy Sold Two Cows With Too Much Flunixin

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

George's Wright Family Dairy, located near Baxley, GA sold two cows last summer for slaughter for use as human food that subsequent tissue sample testing by USDA'S Food Safety and Inspection Service showed were juiced with too much flunixin.
The FDA tolerance level for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug is 0.125 parts per million in the liver tissue of cattle.
Yet FSIS found 0.151 ppm of flunixin in the liver tissue of one cow sold by the Wright Family Dairy, and 0.512 ppm of flunixin in the liver tissue of the second cow.
"Our investigation found that you administered flunixin to a dairy cow without following the withdrawal times as stated in the approved labeling and as stated in your veterinarian's prescription labeling," FDA said.
"Also, our investigation found you administered flunixin to two (2) dairy cows without following the dose as stated in your veterinarian's prescribed labeling," the agency added.
An Oct. 28 warning letter from FDA said Wright Family Dairy's practices make it likely the edible tissues with flunixin are getting into human food.
One or two dairy farms a week, on average, are warned about animal drug abuse by FDA.  There are about 65,000 dairy farms in the U.S.

Full post as published by Food Safety News on November 15, 2010 (boomark / email).