Clearbrook Grain and Milling was fined C$15,000 in Provincial Court for three violations of the Feeds Act, after inspections by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) revealed that medicated feed was present in unmedicated feed, reports Vancouver Sun. The company pled guilty to violations in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

According to farmers who spoke to the reporter, the only way to be absolutely certain that feed is medication free is to buy from certified organic feed mills that use certified organic trucks.

In the Reasons for Sentence, Judge C.J. Roundthwaite wrote: " ... these three offences have occurred when non-medicated feed for one type of poultry, for example, has been mixed immediately after a medicated feed being mixed for another type of poultry. Small amounts of the first medicated ingredient have contaminated that second production."

The company invested in upgrades and procedures to correct the problem but the court scolded Clearbrook for taking three years to correct the problem, according to Vancouver Sun.

"There is a zero tolerance for any amount of medicated ingredient ending up in food intended for animal species of another type," the judge wrote.