A federal judge has entered a consent decree of permanent injunction against Gregory T. Troost, doing business as T&T Cattle and T&T Cattle Pearl, along with manager Mark Mourton, for violations including illegally administering animal drugs for uses not approved by the FDA. Inspections in January 2002, January 2006, September 2010, and October through November 2012 found that the facility had violated several provisions of the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetics Act.
Specifically, the defendants offered for slaughter seven dairy cows with illegal levels of drug residues. Cows had tissues that tested positive for elevated levels of penicillin and sulfadimethoxine. People can have severe adverse reactions to those drugs even at very low levels and the drugs can harm those sensitive to antibiotics. No illnesses have been reported to date.
In addition, the decree states that the facility did not keep adequate medication records to prevent unsafe drug residues, failed to review treatment records before offering an animal for slaughter, and used medications for unapproved uses in a manner that doesn’t comply with the FDA regulatory requirements.
The defendants cannot sell animals for slaughter for human consumption until they have implemented record-keeping systems to identify and track animals that have been treated with drugs. If the consent decree is violated, the FDA can order the defendants to cease operations.
