"Who then is protecting our food supply?"
Within the past few days, a record 143 million pounds of beef that had been processed by the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company in Chino, California, was recalled. The recall was prompted by Humane Society video documentation that cattle too sick to stand -- so-called "downer cows" -- were being stood up by workers so that they could be slaughtered and their beef used. U.S. Department of Agriculture policy bans downer cows from the food chain.
One concern about downer cows is that they may be infected with "prion diseases," rare but uniformly fatal brain disorders that can be passed on to humans. The best-known prion disease in humans is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. It has several variations, one of which is believed to be passed to humans from cattle infected with the prion disease BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy).
The risk of such infections is not great; the foundation estimates that infection from all sources involves between 250 and 300 U.S. patients per year. But Department of Agriculture regulations are there for a reason, and in the case of Hallmark/Westland, they were being violated on a scale large enough to justify a record-breaking recall.
The Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Foundation has more information on this phenomenon. It also has bad news to report regarding inspections for food safety. In a letter to members released Tuesday, the foundation reported that in its opinion, the food-safety net is full of holes:
The CJD Foundation and its members have been vocal advocates for more stringent [U.S. Department of Agriculture] BSE policies and oversight for a long time. Over the past five years we have met with our elected representatives on Capitol Hill to talk about our concerns, and in July 2006 some of us participated in a meeting with the USDA Secretary Mike Johanns and Dr. Richard Raymond, USDA under secretary for food safety. We urged them not to scale back BSE testing from 375,000 to 40,000 (which they proceeded to do one week after our meeting). The statement that the USDA's BSE policy is "not to protect the human food supply but to provide animal surveillance" is chilling. Who then is protecting our food supply and at what point in the process are they doing so?It's reasonable to ask: What is the point of "providing animal surveillance" if not to protect the nation's food supply?
UPDATE: The Agriculture Department tells Congress that things are just fine:
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer told Congress yesterday that he would not endorse an outright ban on "downer" cows entering the food supply or back stiffer penalties for regulatory violations by meat-processing plants in the wake of the largest beef recall in the nation's history.Appearing at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Schafer said the department is investigating why it missed the inhumane treatment of cattle at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino, Calif., including workers administering electric shocks and high-intensity water sprays to downer cows -- those too sick or weak to stand without assistance.
The secretary announced interim steps such as more random inspections of slaughterhouses and more frequent unannounced audits of the nearly two dozen plants that process meat for federal school lunch programs.
But he deflected calls from Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), the subcommittee chairman, for the government to ban all downer cows from the food supply, increase penalties for violators and require installation of 24-hour surveillance cameras in processing plants.
"The penalties are strong and swift, as we have shown," Schafer said. "Financially, I don't see how this company can survive. People need to be responsible and, from USDA's standpoint, they will be held responsible. . . . They broke the rules. That does not mean the rules are wrong. I believe the rules are adequate."
The hearing came 11 days after Agriculture officials ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of beef processed by Westland/Hallmark, including 37 million pounds that had gone to school lunch and other public nutrition programs. No illnesses have been linked to the recalled meat.
UPDATE: The company CEO is shown video at a Congressional hearing of some of the illegal things going on at his company. (Caution: Video may be disturbing.)