Animal Feed Recalled Over Mad Cow Concerns
Westport, CT Company Says Livestock Feed May be Contaminated
A Westport company says livestock feed ingredients it shipped to nine states may have been contaminated with cattle remains in violation of a 1997 ban to protect against mad cow disease.
H. J. Baker and Bro., Inc., which has its corporate headquarters at 228 Sugatuck Ave., Westport, CT, said it is recalling three livestock feed ingredients, including two used to supplement feed given to dairy cows, made at an Alabama plant between August and this month. The company said a sample tested by the Food and Drug Administration was positive for cattle meat and bone meal.
Mark Hohnbaum, general manager of the company’s feed products group, said the matter is very concerning to the company, which he said is very serious about food safety.
Mad cow disease is only known to spread when cows eat feed containing brain and other nerve tissue from infected cattle. Protein from cattle was commonly added to cattle feed to speed growth until the ban largely outlawed the practice.
The company shipped the ingredients to feed manufacturers and dairy farms in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi and Tennessee.
The company is notifying its customers of the voluntary recall. It does not know how much of the feed ingredients it sold.
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