Drug misuse on Minnesota dairy cows prompts federal warning

Two Minnesota cows that could have ended up on a dinner plate were pulled from slaughter lines after federal inspectors discovered dangerously high levels of antibiotics in both animals. In a rare move, federal officials sent stern warning letters to two central Minnesota dairy farms, which were among only 30 farms nationwide reprimanded so far this year for violating the rules governing how animal drugs can be used.

J&L Dairy, in Clarissa, Minn., sent a dairy cow to slaughter in March, even though it was drugged with 129 times the amount of penicillin allowed under federal regulations.

Another farm, Evergreen Acres Dairy, LLC, in Paynesville, Minn., was warned by the FDA last month, after one of its cows was found to have more than four times the allowed amount for a certain type of antibiotic. Further inspection found that the farm had misused 10 other drugs.

In letters to both farms, the FDA wrote 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."

In the arena of meat safety, bacterial contamination gets the most attention because of the potential for deadly outbreaks of food-borne illness and massive recalls of tainted products.

Drug residues are less likely to cause immediate harm to consumers, but they can still be dangerous.

Jeff Bender, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Animal Health and Food Safety, said antibiotics and other animal drugs have been used on dairy farms for decades, mostly to treat udder infections. Strict federal standards and testing processes were put in place to make sure the drugs didn't remain in meat or milk of treated animals.

"We want to avoid the possibility that if a person were allergic to penicillin, that consumption of a product or milk from that animal would cause an allergic reaction," he said.

Keith Schaefer, the owner of Evergreen Acres Dairy, said he was shocked when the FDA notified him of the violation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service had tested a cow he sent to slaughter on Sept. 16, 2008 and found high levels of the antibiotic neomycin.

Catching drug residues

While it's rare to find animals with antibiotic levels as high as the Minnesota cases, Bender said the risk of drug residues making it to a dinner table remains a concern.

In 2008, there were 20 chemical residue violations found out of 17,876 scheduled domestic samples, according to USDA data. There were 1,678 residue violations found out of 135,552 samples collected from animals that inspectors believed to be suspect.

Several federal and state agencies are involved in the process of catching animals that might have drug residue violations. USDA inspectors stationed at slaughter facilities typically identify sick animals and pull them out of the line so they can be tested for drug residues.

They also do random sampling. If those tests show levels beyond what federal regulations allow, the cases are turned over to the FDA, which oversees the use of animal drugs.

In the case of Evergreen Acres, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture did an inspection and submitted the findings to the FDA.

An FDA spokeswoman said the agency can't comment on warning letters beyond what is publicly released. The owners of J&L Dairy, Jerry and Linda Korfe, did not return calls for comment. According to the warning letter issued to them, the Korfes sold a dairy cow for slaughter on March 19 that later tested positive for high levels of penicillin.

"Our investigation found that you routinely administered penicillin G procaine to dairy cows without following the daily dosage amount or dosage amount per injection site as stated in the approved labeling," the letter said. "Your extralabel use of penicillin G procaine was not under the supervision of a licensed veterinarian."

The Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association cited the J&L Dairy case in an article this month about the hazards of failing to use a veterinarian to advise farmers on animal drugs.

The J& LDairy case "highlights the fact that they didn't work with a veterinarian as to what would be an appropriate level to use," Bender said.

Schaefer said he has worked closely with a veterinarian and spent several days retraining the four employees who administer drugs to the 1,400 cows at Evergreen Acres since the FDA warning.

Lora Pabst • 612-673-4628