Daniel Nickerson – FDA Warning Letter, Oct 23, 2014

On October 8 and 23, 2014, the FDA investigated Daniel W. Nickerson Farm, a dairy operation in Scio, New York. The investigation revealed violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) related to adulterated animals offered for slaughter and improper drug use.

Specifically, on May 19, 2014, two bob veal calves sold for slaughter contained neomycin residues in kidney tissue at 16.11 ppm and 19.29 ppm, respectively. On June 2, 2014, a third bob veal calf sold for slaughter had 16.8 ppm of neomycin in its kidney. The FDA tolerance for neomycin in cattle kidney is 7.2 ppm, but there is no acceptable level for neomycin in bob veal calves when using the specific medicated feed supplement (b)(4) (neomycin sulfate and oxytetracycline hydrochloride). This caused the food to be adulterated under section 402(a)(2)(C)(ii) of the FD&C Act.

The investigation also found that animals were held under insanitary conditions, likely leading to medicated animals with harmful drug residues entering the food supply, violating section 402(a)(4) of the FD&C Act. This was evidenced by a failure to maintain complete treatment records.

Furthermore, the medicated feed supplement (