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Feds Seize Kentucky Livestock Kept In "Filthy Conditions"

Inspections found rodent infestation, feces, urine

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

July 20, 2009

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Federal marshals today seized livestock and horse feeds stored in filthy and rodent-ridden conditions at the Bi-County Farm Bureau Cooperative Association, Inc., in Florence, Kentucky.

The action was triggered by a request from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a federal warrant issued by the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Kentucky.

"The FDA will not tolerate a company's failure to adequately control and prevent filth in its facility," Michael Chappell, the FDA's acting associate commissioner for regulatory affairs, said in a statement. "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 Bi-County feed mill, FDA inspections discovered live and dead mice and evidence of bird activity throughout the facility. Laboratory analysis of samples collected during the inspection confirmed the presence of rodent urine, rodent feces, rodent hairs, and rodent-gnawed holes in bags, according to the FDA.

Under the federal warrant issued, marshals seized all FDA-regulated food products exposed to rodent and bird contamination at the facility. The FDA said 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 FDA said. The facility's more than 50 products are sold locally to farms and stables.

Consumers who bought the products should not feed them to animals, the FDA said.

ConsumerAffairs.com contacted Bi-County Farm Bureau Cooperative for comment about today's action. The facility's manager referred us to attorney Michael McKinney of Burlington, Kentucky. McKinney told us he hadn't had a chance to review the paperwork involved in today's seizure and discuss the case in further detail his client.

"I don't think they (Bi-County Farm Bureau Cooperative) have a real handle yet on what's occurring and what needs to be done," McKinney said. "We will probably have a statement after we get a chance to go over the paperwork. Check back in a day or so and we'll put something together and be happy to talk to you."

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