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.

“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

Purchasers of these products should not feed them to animals and should discard them. 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.

Sources: FDA Press Release (no longer available) & Fox19