FDA WARNING_LETTER - Weld County Bi-Products dba Fort Morgan Pet Foods - December 07, 2011

The FDA issued a Warning Letter to Weld County Bi-Products dba Fort Morgan Pet Foods following inspections of their Greeley (April-May 2011, Nov 2011) and Fort Morgan (June 2011, Dec 2011) rendering facilities. The inspections revealed significant deviations from FDA regulations 21 CFR § 589.2000 and § 589.2001, intended to reduce BSE risk by regulating mammalian proteins and "cattle materials prohibited in animal food or feed" (CMPAF).

Violations included inadequate written procedures for CMPAF removal and handling at both facilities, lacking details on execution, segregation, equipment, and cleaning. Record-keeping was deficient; the Greeley facility only had a handwritten notebook for cattle over 30 months, lacking disposal documentation, while Fort Morgan used a temporary dry-erase board without a saving system. Cross-contamination measures were insufficient, as containers for CMPAF were not adequately differentiated from those for animal feed materials at both locations. Additionally, shrink-wrapped pallets of frozen inedible beef at the Greeley facility lacked the required "Do not feed to cattle or other ruminants" caution statement. The FDA also noted the use of charcoal for both marking CMPAF for disposal and decharacterizing product for feed, advising different agents for clear differentiation.

These failures resulted in adulterated and misbranded products under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The