April 18, 2001
		Purina Violates Regulations Again Purina Mills, the leading U.S. livestock feed producer, has received a warning from the FDA that they had failed to follow regulations governing the use of medications in animal feed. Purina Mills had also come under controversy in January of this year for violating rules imposed to help prevent the spread of mad cow disease. In a letter sent by the FDA on March 23, the agency cited a "continuing failure" by the company to make sure that bagged medicated feed was properly labeled. Failure to appropriately label feed bags can lead to drug residues in the tissues of slaughtered animals, and "may create public health concerns," according to the FDA letter. FDA inspectors at the Purina Oklahoma city facility found that employees failed to conduct required tests of medicated feeds to detect drug components and did not properly identify bulk drug components. Medications used in feed could cause health problems in animals or people. The agency, which deemed a response from Purina Mills to be "unsatisfactory" due to record-keeping and other problems, ordered swift action to correct the problems. Earlier this year, a Purina Mills facility in Texas notified federal officials after it suspected a cattle feed that had already been shipped out could have been contaminated with animal protein, a possible carrier of mad cow disease.