FDA NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: July 20, 2009

Media Inquiries: Siobhan DeLancey, 202-510-4177, siobhan.delancey@fda.hhs.gov
Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

FDA: Adulterated Animal Feed Seized
Filthy conditions, failure to correct violations prompted action at Kentucky facility

At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. marshals today seized livestock and horse feeds stored under filthy conditions at the Bi-County Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, Inc., in Florence, Ky. These products are sold locally to farms and stables in Northern Kentucky and Southern Ohio and not distributed nationwide.

“The FDA will not tolerate a company’s failure to adequately control and prevent filth in its facility,” said Michael Chappell, the FDA’s acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. “The FDA is prepared to use whatever legal means are necessary and appropriate to keep potentially contaminated products out of the marketplace.”

During a recent inspection of the Bi-County feed mill, FDA investigators discovered live and dead mice and evidence of bird activity throughout the facility. FDA laboratory analysis of samples collected during the inspection confirmed the presence of rodent urine, rodent feces, rodent hairs, and rodent-gnawed holes in bags, in and around food products.

Acting on a warrant issued by the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Kentucky, marshals seized all FDA-regulated food products exposed to rodent and bird contamination at the facility. The seized products violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because they were kept in conditions in which they may have become contaminated with filth.

Bi-County manufactures feed and stores commercial feeds received through interstate commerce. The products are sold locally to farms and stables. The products sold by Bi-County include:

15% Hog Grower & Finisher Feed
Agriflex Betonite
AIM Magnesium Oxide 56%
Barley Flakes
Beef, Land O’Lakes Steak Maker Grower
Bi-County 17% Layer Mash
Bi-County Coop Farm Ration
Bi-County Coop Ground Shell Corn
Bi-County Feed Oats
Bi-County Shell Corn
Bi-County Super 12 Plus
Bio-Cube Alfalfa Cubes
Calf Manna, Manna Pro
Cattle Mineral Triple Trust
Champions Choice Mix-N-Fine Salt
Champions Choice Trace Mineral Salt
Coastal Brand Poultry Shell
Country Acres Horse Feed
Crimped Oats
Diamond Crystal Pellets, water softener
Diamond Yeast Culture
Equine Merit Horse Balancer
Farmer’s Friend Vitamin A, D & E
Feed Grade Sodium Bicarbonate
Gran-I-Grit, Mt. Airy insoluble
Herd Maker Supreme
High Calcium Hydrated Lime
HomeGrown Game Bird & Poultry
Horsemans’s Edge Pelleted
Kemin Calcium Proprionate
Land O’ Lakes Calf Primer
Layena
Legends Grow & Perform
Legends Racing Textured
Legends Show & Pleasure
Limestone Calcium Carbonate
Merry Mixer Dehydrated Alfala
Pork Supreme LG Premix 100/75
Purina Chow Turkey Starter
Purina Omalene 100
Purina Pig Startena
Purina Start & Grow Sunfresh
Rabbit Pellets 25 lbs.
Reliance Pleasure 11T
Reliance Pleasure HP
S.S. Dairy 18% Supreme Dairy
Scratch Feed
Solvent Extracted Soybean Meal
Tizwhiz Train N Maintain
Triple Crown Complete
Triple Crown Growth
Triple Crown Senior Formula
Triple Trust 20-15 Red Calf Manna Milk Replacer
Triple Trust Dried Molasses
Triple Trust Feed Dicalium Phosphate
Triple Trust Horse Feed
Triple Trust Rabbit Pellets
Triple Trust Textured Goat Feed
Ultralyx Dried Distillers Grains

Those products purchased directly from Bi-County should not be fed to animals and should be discarded. In addition, purchasers should thoroughly wash their hands after handling the products.

James A. Zerhusen, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, filed the complaint requesting the seizure, and his office will continue to coordinate with the FDA to ensure proper disposition of the seized items.

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