Owners agree to keep illegal drug residues out of animals sold for human consumption

SILVER SPRING, Md., July 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A Pennsylvania dairy farm has agreed to abide by federal regulations that protect meat from illegal drug residues caused by the unapproved medication of cattle before slaughter, as part of a consent decree of permanent injunction obtained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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The FDA action against H.B. Williams, Inc., of Kingsley, Pa., and company owners Donna L. Williams, Jeffrey D. Williams, and Mark H. Williams, was taken July 26, 2010, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

Under the decree signed by U.S. District Judge James M. Munley the farm is not permitted to sell animals for food unless and until it meets several requirements, including establishment of a recordkeeping system approved by the FDA to track the identity of medicated animals and the drugs and dosages given.  After the farm resumes selling animals for food, the decree authorizes the FDA to require the farm to cease operations and pay fines if FDA determines that the farm has violated the decree.

The FDA is concerned about the sale of animals for human food that may contain illegal levels of animal drugs because of the potential for adverse effects on human health. The FDA approves new animal drugs with requirements, including a specified time period to withdraw an animal from treatment prior to slaughter, to ensure that a drug has been depleted from edible tissue to a level safe for humans.

The dairy farm sold animals through local livestock auctions to slaughterhouses that ship beef products to customers in New Jersey, New York, Maine, and Michigan.

The drug residues detected in tissue samples of the farm's dairy cows and veal calves during tests by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety Inspection Service included antibiotics such as neomycin, flunixin, desfuroylceftiofur, and sulfamethazine at levels not permitted by the FDA.

For more information:

Inspections, Compliance, Enforcement, and Criminal Investigations

http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/default.htm

FDA Issues Draft Guidance on the Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobials in Food-Producing Animals

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm217464.htm

SOURCE U.S. Food and Drug Administration

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