Several years ago, Wisconsin started to have a higher level of drug residue violations in its dairy cull animals. Concerned by this, a group of private veterinarians banded together in 2009 to form the Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association (WVMA) HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control points) for Proper Drug Use Program. They felt that this issue could be fixed with high quality education.
Since the program began, the number of first-time and repeat drug violators has dropped dramatically (see Figure 1). In 2010, the WVMA teamed up with the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) to form the What Matters initiative, which focused on producers and veterinarians working together to develop plans for drug use on the farm. Today, the WVMA’s program is known as the Food Armor HACCP for Proper Drug Use Program or Food Armor.
What is Food Armor?
Food Armor is a national program that encourages producers to police themselves before the public tries to do it for them. It also encourages continued veterinary oversight, which limits protocol drift and ensures that every protocol is followed each and every time.
Food Armor training sessions are geared towards licensed veterinarians since they are the most qualified person to oversee drug use on a dairy. However, Dr. Katie Mrdutt, Food Armor outreach specialist, says Food Armor is more than willing to provide informational sessions to producers and other members of the dairy industry who are interested in learning more about the program and drug residue issues.
It is a two-phase program. Phase one focuses on educating the veterinarian on the program itself and updating them on the latest drug regulations. This aspect of the program began back in 2010. Phase two, however, just became part of the program a little less than a year ago.
Phase two includes the accreditation aspect of the program and enables accredited veterinarians to certify farms under the Food Armor program. To complete phase two, veterinarians stay for an additional day of training, where they learn how to implement the Food Armor program on a dairy operation. After this, they take an online evaluation to test their knowledge of the program to make sure they have been properly trained and know its full requirements. Finally, the veterinarian takes a dairy through the certification process and submits all of the paperwork to Food Armor for review. If the dairy passes, then that veterinarian is now accredited and can continue to certify dairies.
Food Armor realized that the HACCP plan is not a one-size-fits-all type of plan, so instead of developing protocols that all dairies had to adhere to in order to be Food Armor certified, they developed a list of six criteria that must be met (see Text box 1). This allows the veterinarian to work with the producer to develop a HACCP plan that will meet the needs and challenges of that specific dairy.
Should a certified dairy ever have a drug residue incident, they would need to work with the veterinarian who certified them and submit paperwork to Food Armor saying what happened and what their plan is to keep it from happening again. If they do this and Food Armor is satisfied with their solution, then that dairy is able to maintain its certification.
Benefits of having a solid drug use plan
Aside from a reduced chance for drug residue, Fred Gingrich, president of the Association of Bovine Practitioners and owner of Ashland Veterinary Clinic and County Roads Veterinary Services in Ashland, Ohio, says many of his clients see their drug bill decrease and their treatment outcome improve. This is because by putting strict protocols in place, it encourages a more judicious use of drugs on the animals. A big part of this is training and giving employees criteria for determining when to treat a sick cow or calf, and when to cull her instead of treating every sick animal.
For Keith York, co-owner of Merry-Water Farms in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, this is exactly what happened when he and his vet started implementing the Food Armor program on his family’s 1,600-cow dairy four years ago. His operation had a 10 to 15 percent savings in drug costs in the first year; however, it required a mindset shift for them. He says that before they had always believed they could cure any cow. However, after working with their vet and the Food Armor program, they realized that drugs are not practical in certain situations.
Additional veterinary oversight is another major benefit that York has seen on his dairy as a result of this program. Before, he feels they weren’t using their veterinarian’s skills nearly enough. Having the veterinarian more involved is beneficial not only because of his expertise, but because it makes them stick to their protocols since he frequently reviews their records to make sure everything is in order.
Finally, York says the dairy’s employees like the new system. They know exactly what is expected and what to do in each situation since each and every standard operating procedure (SOP) is written down.
Why is this important?
“What we have seen in our area [Ohio] and that I’m sure is going on in the rest of the nation is that a lot of these issues [drug use and residues] are not going to be regulatory issues, legal issues,” Gingrich says. “It’s going to be retailers, processors and packers that are going to put these guidelines down on the farm, and you want to be ahead of the game. Drug use on farms is not an issue that’s going to go away. As an industry, what we have to do is say, ‘We’ve already solved the problem on our own. We don’t need legislation. We’re already using these drugs appropriately with veterinary oversight.’ If we do that, consumers and retailors and farmers and legislators are going to be happy.”
Programs like Food Armor are important because they provide additional transparency to the public and they encourage producers to work closely with a veterinarian to develop a plan for proper drug use on their dairy and oversee that the plan is followed.
“Our program is a proactive approach that the industry can embrace that address the concerns consumers have in regards to the quality of their food products,” Mrdutt says. “By implementing a HACCP plan for proper drug use on the farm, farmers can show ongoing improvement and continued progress to continue to produce the safe and quality products that they already are producing. It opens up a level of transparency of the rest of the industry that the dairy industry does put a lot of time and effort into providing the best products [milk and meat] that they can.” PD
Text box 1
Food Armor’s six-section plan for food safety and long-term proper drug use on farms:
- VCPR (veterinarian/client/patient relationship): The veterinarian of record and the farm owner proactively assign roles and responsibilities, which establish the lines of communication between all members of the VCPR team.
- Drug list: This list includes all drugs on the farm and defines exactly how each drug will be used in specific situations or management groups.
- Protocols: Protocols are treatment plans developed by the veterinarian of record for commonly occurring, easily recognizable conditions where instructions can be left by the veterinarian of record for the care of these conditions in his or her absence.
- SOPs: Standard operating procedures precisely define procedures for animal care, including animal identification, residue avoidance, drug administration and euthanasia.
- Records: Records provide the veterinarian of record and the farm owner a means for oversight of drug usage on the farm. A recording method must be present, which includes a treatment log for every treatment and a permanent medical history for every animal. The permanent record should provide information that allows farm management to make medical decisions for the entire herd.
- Oversight: Veterinary oversight includes continuous monitoring of hazards and identification of potential improvements to the animal care plan. Oversight is an integral component for validation of the VCPR and provides accountability, ultimately resulting in increased consumer confidence.
PHOTOS: Photos provided by the Food Armor HACCP for Proper Drug Use Program.
