The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising horse owners to discard feed purchased at a Florence, Ky., feed store because it could be contaminated. The agency issued the advisory on Monday when U.S. Marshals seized $24,000 in livestock food products from the Bi-County Farm Bureau Cooperative Association Inc.

The FDA inspectors discovered live and dead mice and evidence of bird activity during an inspection of the Bi-County facility in June. Sample analysis later confirmed the presence of rodent urine, rodent feces, and rodent hair in and around food products, as well as holes gnawed in bags by rodents, said FDA Press Officer Siobhan DeLancey, RVT, MPH.

The agency ordered the seizure after finding that Bi-County failed to comply with FDA feed storage rules requiring routine cleaning and rodent control practices, along with sealing the premises to prevent rodent and bird entry and egress, she said