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BEEF RECALL - USA (05)
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A ProMED-mail post
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International Society for Infectious Diseases
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[1]
Date: Thu 28 Feb 2008
Source: The New York Times [edited]
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/business/28beef.html?scp=1&sq=humane+society+sues&st=nyt>
The Humane Society of the United States sued the Agriculture
Department (USDA) on Wednesday [27 Feb 2008] for creating a
"loophole" that it said is permitting potentially sick cows into the
food supply. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington,
accused the department of violating procedural requirements when it
created the provision, giving the meat industry a financial incentive
to send unhealthy cattle to slaughter. As evidence, the Humane
Society cited its widely publicized undercover videotape of workers
at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company in Chino, California, abusing
cows that appeared unable to walk.
Jonathan R Lovvorn, a lawyer for the Humane Society, said that when
the agency weakened the ban last year [2007], it "did so without
really telling people that that's what they were going to do and
without explaining how this complies with their obligation to protect
consumers and ensure humane treatment." The lawsuit is likely to fuel
tensions between the Humane Society and the Agriculture Department
that have been growing since the video was publicly released in late
January [2008]. The release led to the biggest beef recall in
history, 143 million pounds, more than a third of which had been
shipped to federal nutrition programs like school lunches.
The agriculture secretary, Ed Schafer, has criticized the Humane
Society for not giving his agency the tape soon after it was shot, in
October and November [2007]. The Humane Society said it took the tape
to local prosecutors in mid-December because of the animal abuse,
asserting that the Agriculture Department had ignored past abuse.
Through a spokeswoman, Mr Schafer, who was named personally in the
suit, declined to comment. A 2nd defendant, Alfred V Almanza,
administrator of the agency's Food Safety and Inspection Service
(FSIS), also declined to comment. They have previously expressed
confidence in the food supply and argued that the Westland/Hallmark
case was an isolated problem.
Much of the recalled meat has already been eaten. The Agriculture
Department said that no one had become ill and that the health risk
was minimal. [Since the human form of BSE has an incubation period of
years, this statement is meaningless. - Mod.JW].
An investigator for the Humane Society spent 6 weeks working in the
outdoor pens at Westland/Hallmark, which used spent dairy cows to
make ground beef. The Chino area has many large dairies. During that
time, he shot video of workers using forklifts and electric prods to
force cows to their feet in an apparent effort to get them to walk.
In one instance, a worker sprayed a hose down a cow's nose to get it
to stand up.
The Agriculture Department tentatively banned cows that cannot walk,
called downers, from the human food supply in 2004 after the 1st
discovery in the United States of a cow with bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. Downer cows have an elevated risk
of certain diseases, including mad cow. Under rare circumstances,
that illness can be transmitted to people, causing a fatal brain
ailment.
In July 2007, after lobbying efforts by the meat industry, the
Agriculture Department made the downer cow ban official, but with a
change. When cows arrive at a slaughterhouse, a Department of
Agriculture veterinarian inspects them to make sure they are fit for
slaughter. Under the amendment, if a cow goes down after that initial
inspection, the meat company is supposed to summon the veterinarian
to determine whether the animal is healthy enough for slaughter.
Mark D Dopp, senior vice president for regulatory affairs and general
counsel for the American Meat Institute, said the initial ban was too
broad because it included animals that might break a leg or sever a
ligament after the inspection. The American Meat Institute was among
many organizations, including meat companies, farmers, and state
departments of agriculture, that urged the federal department to
amend the ban. "It's not like there would be anything wrong with the
carcass, with the meat, if the animal breaks a leg," Mr Dopp said.
"It's a proviso founded in common sense."
Getting rid of the provision would severely restrict the market for
cows that are in poor condition, Mr Lovvorn argued. Now, he asserted,
companies like Westland/Hallmark buy feeble cows on the assumption
they can make it through a lax inspection. The Humane Society said
the Agriculture Department had done a poor job of enforcing even the
weakened version of its downer ban, as evidenced by the problems at
Westland/Hallmark. In addition, a 2006 audit by the agency's
inspector general found that meat inspectors sometimes allowed downer
cows to be slaughtered, despite the rules.
During a 9-month period in which 12 slaughterhouses were examined, 29
cows unable to walk were slaughtered at 2 of the plants. Of those
animals, 20 exhibited no evidence of an injury that would explain why
they could not walk, raising the possibility of a more serious
illness.
[Byline: Andrew Martin]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[How a healthy cow can slip and break a leg in a holding pen, as
claimed, is a stretch unless they tripped over a new moon or stumbled
on a flying pig. Also as a meat inspector I can remember many an
animal being delivered to the yards well after slaughter had started,
which in a present day US slaughterhouse might well be after the
inspectors had left. Clearly a serious loophole. - Mod.MHJ]
******
[2]
Date: Fri 29 Feb 2008
Source: The New York Times [edited]
<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/business/29food.html?ref=business>
Under sharp criticism for failing to detect animal abuse at a big
California slaughterhouse, the Department of Agriculture (USDA)
promised on Thursday [28 Feb 2008] to step up its efforts to see that
animals are treated humanely. For instance, inspectors have been told
to make their review of animal welfare more random, so workers cannot
prepare for their arrival by hiding evidence of abuse, and to pay
special attention to plants where older or potentially sick animals
are slaughtered, like veal and dairy cow slaughterhouses.
The additional measures were announced at a testy hearing before a
Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the recent recall of 143
million pounds of beef from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company in
California. More than a third of the meat was sold to federal
nutrition programs, primarily for use in school lunches.
The Humane Society said some of the cows in the videotape ended up in
the food supply despite a federal rule banning downer cows, or those
that cannot stand. Downer cows are more likely to have certain
illnesses, including mad cow disease, a fatal brain illness that is
occasionally transmitted to humans.
Senator Herb Kohl, Democrat of Wisconsin, demanded to know how the
animal abuse occurred when 5 inspectors were assigned to the plant.
He called for continuous monitoring of live animals at
slaughterhouses and suggested that the Department of Agriculture use
video cameras. Mr Kohl also demanded audits in the next month of
every slaughterhouse in the country supplying meat for federal
programs like school lunches. The Agriculture Department promised
more random inspections of those slaughterhouses. Noting that the
abuse was uncovered by a charity, rather than government inspectors,
Mr Kohl asked the agriculture secretary, Edward T Schafer, "Why don't
you have a system that uncovers this inhumane treatment of animals?"
Mr Schafer said his agency was still investigating the incidents at
Westland/Hallmark to determine how inspectors missed the abuse, and
whether abuse was occurring at other plants. He said his agency was
also considering using cameras to keep watch on cows held in pens for
slaughter. For all the graphic images in the videotape, the secretary
said there was no evidence that sick cows made it into the food
supply. He said the cows had passed an inspection by a veterinarian
trained to look for signs of illness. "We do not believe this is a
food safety issue," he said.
But Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, repeatedly challenged the
secretary's assertion that the meat from Westland/Hallmark was safe.
"We don't know if these animals portrayed on this videotape were sick
or not," he said. "We can't keep saying these things if we don't
really know."
When cows arrive at a slaughterhouse, they are inspected by a
Department of Agriculture veterinarian to determine if they are
healthy enough for slaughter. If the cows then go down between the
time of the inspection and slaughter, the meat company is supposed to
call the veterinarian back to reinspect the animal. Westland/Hallmark
failed to take that step, prompting the recall.
Westland/Hallmark slaughtered about 11 000 animals a month, and
Department of Agriculture veterinarians turned away 35 to 40, said
Kenneth E Petersen, assistant administrator for the agency's Food
Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
In written testimony to the subcommittee, Temple Grandin, an expert
on animal welfare and an animal science professor at Colorado State
University, said inspectors needed more training. "One person is
super strict and unreasonable, another is just right, and another is
totally lax," she wrote. [Temple is highly regarded. - Mod.MHJ]
[Byline: Andrew Martin]
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[For another report on this session go to the Washington Post at
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022804117.html?hpid=moreheadlines>
In spite of the lawyer briefed, protective remarks on both sides it
is clear that a serious situation exists over the proper and adequate
screening of 'downer' stock in US slaughterhouses. In my experience
downers cover everything from the aged and frail, to the sick however
defined, and then those that had slipped while being loaded into a
trailer to go to market and broken a leg or torn a ligament but were
otherwise healthy. The risk of a US bovine-TSE (transmissible
spongiform encephalopathy) animal ending up on a plate is still in
the eye of the beholder. A possibility, yes. A probability, presently
small. For those concerned about this, you can go to Terry
Singeltary's blogspot at
<http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/02/beef-recall-nationwide-school-lunch.html>
but you are warned that it is not the best organised of sites, and it is just
one point of view. - Mod.MHJ]
[see also:
Beef recall - USA (04): Nationwide 20080227.0799
Beef recall - USA (03): CA 20080226.0771
Beef recall - USA (02): (CA) 20080222.0720
Beef recall - USA: (CA), food safety questions 20080218.0651]
........................................mhj/mj/jw
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