In its effort to defend the United States against mad-cow disease, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to Tyson Foods Inc. after the company violated a major FDA rule instituted to keep the disorder out of the country. According to the FDA, Tyson failed to place "Do Not Feed to Cattle or Other Ruminants" labels on its organ slurry, a mixture of ground bovine waste parts used as an ingredient in pet food.

The feeding of slurry to cattle has been blamed for the spread of mad-cow disease. The warning letter comes less than a month after the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO), a congressional investigative agency, criticized the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the FDA for substandard preparation in the fight against the disease.