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High Antibiotic Levels Found in NY Veal Calves

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

An upstate New York dairy farm is selling bob veal calves with levels of the antibiotics Tetracycline and Penicillin in their edible tissues at levels that are higher than allowed for human consumption.
Corscadden Family Farm, located on River Road near Richville, received an Aug. 17 warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about its alleged violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
In the warning letter, FDA said the dairy farm sold bob calves for slaughter as food and USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service subsequently took tissue samples from four of those calves and a cow.    
All the samples from the animals originating at Corscadden Family Farm were found to have liver, muscle, and kidney tissues samples containing the one or the other antibiotic drugs at levels high than the tolerated by FDA.
"The presence of these drugs in the edible tissues from these animals in these amounts causes the food to be adulterated..." FDA said.
"Our investigation also found that you hold animals under conditions that are so inadequate that medicated animals bearing potentially harmful drug residues are likely to enter the food supply," the warning letter said.  "For example you fail to maintain complete treatment records."
FDA said the dairy farm was using animal drugs in a manner not prescribed by the label.  Only a licensed veterinarian can use off the label instructions for an animal drug.
During the inspection, the dairy agreed to stop using a medicated milk replacer in veal calves because the directions for use state not to use it in veal calves.

Full post as published by Food Safety News on August 26, 2010 (boomark / email).