A Texas dairy west of Fort Worth offered an animal for sale for slaughter as food that was adulterated, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) says.

In a “Warning Letter,” released Nov. 24th, to Carole Vander Horst, owner of the Vander Horst Dairy and Farming, FDA Dallas District Director Reynaldo R. Rodriguez, Jr. charges the Stephenville, TX operation with penicillin abuse.

FDA says the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) tested a dairy cow sold by Vander Horst for slaughter and penicillin was found in uncooked edible tissues at levels higher than allowed by law.

“Our investigation also found 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,” says Rodriquez.  “For example, you failed to maintain complete treatment records.  Food from animals held under such conditions is adulterated within the meaning of section 402(a)(4) of the Act, 21 U.S.C. 342(a) (4).”

Annual sales at the Vander Horst Dairy exceed $1 million a year and the operation employs 13, according to business reporting services.

FDA charges Vander Horst with using penicillin in ways not provided for in the animal drug’s approved labeling.  It says the dairy administered the drug without following the dosage level and outside the supervision of a licensed veterinarian.

“The extralabel use of approved animal or human drugs in animals is allowed under the Act only if the extralabel use complies with sections 512(a) (4) and (5) of the Act, 21 U.S.C. 360b(a)(4) and (5), and 21 C.F.R. Part 530, including that the use must be by or on the lawful order of a licensed veterinarian within the context of a valid veterinarian/client/patient relationship.”

Like others receiving a “Warning Letter” from FDA, the Texas dairy was given 15 working days to show how it’s going to be in compliance with the law.