FDA cited Tacoma firm for cattle-feed violations

By Steve Miletich
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Two Eastern Washington feed businesses also have been cited, though for less serious violations.

The Tacoma company, X-Cel Feeds, reached an agreement with the government to improve its sanitary procedures and make other changes to prevent the sale of adulterated cattle feed.

Feed produced by X-Cel was never sold to farms in Mabton, where federal officials discovered a sick cow this month that tested positive for mad-cow disease, Paul Alvestad, the company's attorney, said Wednesday.

But the Tacoma case illustrates that breakdowns in the law can occur, and it underscores the importance of regular inspections by federal officials.

In the wake of the announcement this week that a Holstein cow from a Mabton dairy farm had mad-cow disease, the first such case in the United States, agriculture officials reassured the public that a 1997 ban on using cattle byproducts in cattle feed safeguards against the chance that the disease might spread through feed. The byproducts, which are high in protein and help animals gain weight, may still be fed to chickens, pigs and household pets because those animals don't contract the disease.

A civil complaint, filed by federal attorneys in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, was brought against X-Cel under the 1997 law. The complaint was based on findings by inspectors with the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA oversees inspections of feed companies. But the agency's inspection record has been spotty, according to a report last year by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. In response, the FDA agreed to improve its procedures.

FDA inspectors were regular visitors to X-Cel, where they issued a series of warnings dating to 1989 before formally citing the company for violations uncovered in February 2000, according to court records.

The inspection found that faulty mixing procedures may have allowed cattle feed to be contaminated with poultry and pig feed that contained cattle tissue. It also found that the company was not marking poultry and pig feed with written warnings against feeding it to cattle or sheep, as required under the 1997 law.

Alvestad said that there was never a finding that cattle feed was actually contaminated, but that X-Cel agreed under a consent decree to improve its cleaning procedures to avoid the possibility.

He said that the company never sold cattle feed with cattle or sheep byproducts and that it has stopped selling feed with those materials to avoid problems.

Two other firms in Washington state also have been cited, but not to the same extent as X-Cel.

The FDA said those violations were minor and posed no health risks, but an environmental group wants the agency to investigate whether those problems contributed to the infection of the Holstein cow.

An October 2002 inspection found that M&E Seed & Grain of Moses Lake, a feed mill, violated the 1997 law.

Violations also were found at a second company, RTK Producers, of Prosser, a trucking firm that handles animal feed, in June 2002, but a March 2003 follow-up inspection found no problems.

Both firms had minor violations that easily could be corrected, such as missing paperwork, said Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine. The FDA records do not list the specific violations.

RTK Producers didn't return a call seeking comment. No phone number was available for M&E.

Larry Bohlen, director of health and environment programs for Friends of the Earth, said even the minor violations could be significant. "Why list them as violators at all?" Bohlen said. "There must be some level of concern that they're putting our food supply at risk."

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report. Steve Miletich: 206-464-3302 or smiletich@seattletimes.com

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