CSPI Opposes Limitations on Drug Residue Testing in Veal Calves

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has sent a letter to Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, drawing
attention to a plan that would allegedly prohibit FDA from considering drug
residues in bob veal calf tissues “as an indicator of possible drug misuse
on dairy farms.” According to CSPI, bob veal cattle are young beef animals
“harvested directly from dairy farms, and therefore, these cattle are key
indicators of drug use on the specific farms and are also important indicators
of potential use in dairy cattle residing on those farms.” The consumer group
thus feels that a policy barring test results from these animals “would make it
harder for FDA to detect misuse of animal drugs in dairy cattle and, as a result,
consumers may be more likely to be exposed to hazardous drugs in milk
and milk products and/or resistant strains of human pathogens in the food
supply.”

The proposal has evidently gained traction at the April 29-May 4, 2011,
National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments (NCIMS), where a
committee of delegates, state regulators and dairy industry representatives
reportedly recommended the prohibition. As a result, CSPI has asked
Hamburg to exercise FDA’s rights “to not concur with Proposal 209 should it
pass in the NCIMS general session…, and ensure that the agency has fully
preserved its ability to use all available evidence to identify dairy farms with
inadequate controls on their use of animal drugs.” See CSPI Press Release, May
4, 2011.