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AgVetLink: Number 54, February 2006

Compliance update

It has been quiet in the compliance area since Christmas. Most work at the moment involves education for ‘first time offenders’. Efforts to inform registrants about advertising requirements also seem to be working. There has been a noticeable improvement in compliance with the advertising policy.

NZFSA has recently brought successful prosecutions under the Animal Products Act 1999 against two dairy farmers who sent bobby calves for slaughter which subsequently tested positive for sulphonamide drug residues. They were fined for failing to comply with a notice (made under the Animal Products Act 1999) that prohibits suppliers of farmed mammals from presenting animal material for primary processing if it has been treated with or exposed to a registered agricultural compound and is within the withholding period. In both instances the animals were found to have been exposed to compounds used in the treatment of calf scours. The compounds contained sulphonamide drugs.

Breaches of the notice can carry a fine of up to $20,000. In these cases the fines were $500 - $1000 plus costs.

Geoff Allen, NZFSA’s Director of Compliance and Investigation, said, “I am pleased with these results. It serves as further evidence that farmers who choose to jeopardise our animal products markets by misusing veterinary medicines stand a very good chance of being caught and publicly punished. I urge all farmers to scrupulously observe the dosage rates and withholding times provided on the labels and by the prescribing veterinarian and ensure that their farming practices protect against inadvertent contaminations”.