Meat recalls mired in secrecy

[yewberry]

Sonofabitch. I guess this is why it's been so hard to find out where contaminated 'food' has gone. This is so wrong.



Meat recalls mired in secrecy
All meat recalls are voluntary. Most are started by a meat company, not by the USDA.
http://www.kansascity.com/198/story/501416.html

The recent record recall of 143 million pounds of raw and frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse was pretty chilling. The recall was triggered by undercover video taken by the Humane Society of cows too sick to stand being dragged and prodded across the slaughtering floor. But here’s something else that might disturb you: If you wanted to find out whether your neighborhood grocery sold any of that meat, forget it. It’s classified.

Even most state health officials aren’t told where bad meat ends up. Even when they are told, the government makes them keep those details secret from the public. This long-held practice of secrecy was supposed to be lifted.

snip

Meat recalls are different than other recalls. Consider that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission have the authority to order a mandatory recall and even fine companies. In contrast, the USDA lacks the authority to require a recall. It can threaten only to withhold an inspection or keep a packer’s meat out of the supply chain. But all meat recalls are voluntary. So most are started by a meat company, after a government inspection or in response to reported illnesses.


If you're so inclined, go ahead and dismiss this post because of my username--you won't be the first. Tell you what, though--I spent the past couple of years working in a Title I school. Most of our kids rely on school breakfast and lunch. And while I can locate information stating that hundreds of local school districts have been serving meat from Westland for years, there's no specific information at all. I guess we can just assume that our kids were served this stuff, especially because our schools go out of their way to use beef over pork because of our high Muslim populations.

My kids, y'all. These are my kids. They're smart, they're funny. Sure, they're poor, but that shouldn't have to mean that they can be fed poison.

My kids. Damn.

[lligrd]

1. It Is Not Just Food Recalls

It is all recalls.

[yewberry]

3. USDA recalls particularly have no real power.

Meat recalls are different than other recalls. Consider that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission have the authority to order a mandatory recall and even fine companies.

In contrast, the USDA lacks the authority to require a recall. It can threaten only to withhold an inspection or keep a packer’s meat out of the supply chain. But all meat recalls are voluntary. So most are started by a meat company, after a government inspection or in response to reported illnesses.

http://www.kansascity.com/198/story/501416.html

Nice. That's quite a sweet deal for the industry.

[lligrd]

4. So Food Recalls Are Even Worse That The Already Bad

regular industry recalls? What the hell is wrong with us?

[Fox Mulder]

2. That doesn't surprise me at all.

You know, the USDA should mandate a recall. Why don't they? Why don't they have that kind of power? I think they should. People should be outraged at this, but they won't be.

Thank the gods I gave up eating beef a long time ago.

[lligrd]

5. I Am And It is Not Just Beef That We Should Be

concerned about. Just look at the pet food scare!

[yewberry]

6. I wish it were surprising.

The facts of the potential contamination, law-breaking, and animal abuse aren't a big shock, unfortunately.

I just can't wrap my mind around the fact that the second-largest supplier to the National School Lunch program is recalling their products and there's no information clearinghouse to find out where their product was served.

Because it's classified.

That's just sick.

[slipslidingaway]

7. K&R. Also... Kucinich Opens Inquiry into USDA...

Maybe they could help with the secrecy aspect mentioned in the article?

:shrug:

Kucinich Opens Inquiry into USDA Inspections of the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Plant

http://kucinich.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=84365


"Washington, Feb 22 - Chairman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee, sent the following letter to Secretary of Agriculture, Ed Schafer, calling for inspection documents for the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing plant in Chino, CA.

The letter sent by Chairman Kucinich stated:

February 22, 2008

Ed Schafer, Secretary
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20250

Dear Secretary Schafer:

Revelations of animal cruelty and the processing of downer animals at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing plant in Chino, CA have shocked the nation.

The Domestic Policy Subcommittee is initiating an inquiry into the quality and reliability of the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). To assist the subcommittee in its inquiry, I request the following:

1) All records, including time records, of USDA FSIS inspectors at the Hallmark/Westland Packing Plant, at all points in the slaughter process, including inspections of live animals in the ante mortem pens, in the time period January 2005 to the present; and

2) All documents created by or issued to USDA FSIS inspectors at the Hallmark/Westland Packing Plant, at all points in the slaughter process, in the time period January 2005 to the present.

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee is the principal oversight committee in the House of Representatives and has broad oversight jurisdiction as set forth in House Rule X. Please provide these documents no later than 5:00 PM on Friday, March 7, 2008. An attachment to this letter provides additional information on how to respond to the Subcommittee’s request."

Sincerely,

Dennis J. Kucinich
Chairman
Domestic Policy Subcommittee

[yewberry]

8. I'm really grateful that someone is even makng any noise at all.

Naturally, it's DK. Kucinich is one of the few that I trust to actually take these issues seriously.

Unfortunately, I don't know that USDA FSIS records will mean much in this investigation. The allegations are that the Westland workers knew when the USDA inspectors would show up (twice daily) and they did hideous things to the weakest (downer)animals to get them to stand, even just for a few minutes, so that the inspectors wouldn't spot the downers.

[slipslidingaway]

9. Unfortunately you are probably correct, but maybe a few more

people will pay attention to our current practices.

:shrug: