Calves culled over Dutch furazolidone scare
On four veal calf farms in the Netherlands, many calves have to be destroyed as they have been in contact feed with the banned antibiotic furazolidone. This has been confirmed by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). 2,474 calves in total will be culled over the next few days.
These farms have been blocked since the end June, after traces of the banned antibiotic furazolidone were found in urine samples of the calves. The animals got contaminated by consuming feed with the antibiotic in it, supplied by the Dutch feed company Kats Food & Feed. The veal calf farms weren’t aware of this contamination. This feed company has now been suspended (including its GMP+ certificate). A zero tolerance policy for this banned antibiotic applies. Even small traces of the antibiotic results in destroying of the meat, or animals.
The costs for the culling have to be made by the farms. Also 97 pig farms received the contaminated feed. In total these farms house 50,000 pigs. Tests on these farms are continuing. If traces appear, then the animals will also have to be culled.
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