The U.S. Department of Agriculture initiated the largest meat recall in U.S. history today, recalling 143 million pounds of beef from a macabre California slaughterhouse that chopped up downer cows—a rich source of mad cow disease—and sold them to school districts across the nation. The massive recall affects all beef produced by the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company after February 1, 2006.
Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said his department has evidence that Westland did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection, violating health regulations.
”Because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection, Food Safety and Inspection Service has determined them to be unfit for human food and the company is conducting a recall,” Schafer said in a statement.
A phone message left for Westland president Steve Mendell was not immediately returned.
Federal officials suspended operations at Westland/Hallmark after an undercover Humane Society video surfaced showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts.
Two former employees were charged Friday. Five felony counts of animal cruelty and three misdemeanors were filed against a pen manager. Three misdemeanor counts — illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal — were filed against an employee who worked under that manager. Both were fired.
Authorities said the video showed workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing ”downer” animals that were apparently too sick or injured to walk into the slaughterhouse. Some animals had water forced down their throats, San Bernardino County prosecutor Michael Ramos said.
Over 100 school districts stopped using meat from the California plants, but not before children consumed 37 million pounds of affected beef. McDonald’s and Burger King do not use meat from Westland, while Jack in the Box and In-N-Out had ordered their suppliers to use other sources “until further notice.”
USDA Makes Nation’s Largest Beef Recall [AP]
PREVIOUSLY: USDA Stops Production At Meatpacking Facility After Undercover Video Showed Sick Cows Being Abused
(Photo: flikr)
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@Trai_Dep: it’a not o much the free market but goverment regulations that make it difficulte for smaller slaughter houses to be able to operate. We now have the mega coperations conducting operations. Before many smaller center had thier own local slaughter houses that supplied to a few butchers in a county.
Sadly the govement thought these places were of higher risk yet that was never proven because most had more acountability as they lived in the comunity they served.
Now we face huge recalls of these sorts and when any sort of out break happens and insteed of being contained to smaller geographical aeras it now spreads acros the country.
Somewhat related; People look at me funny when I tell them that I drink raw milk straight from the cow purchased from a local farmer, but stories like this just confirm my decision. I know exactly where my milk comes from and how the cows are treated and what they are fed…
This just affirms if you don’t know the source, you shouldn’t eat it.
@cunnij98: Raw milk tastes different, but coming from a safe source (you know the farmer) it’s less dangerous than USA beef. The lack of inspectors is scary.
When US blocked the border, because Canada found mad cow in one cow, it makes me but wonder : how many mad cows slip **through** the cracks in USA. There is no strict system to test cows in USA + lack of actual inspectors. (Canada is much more strict in its inspections, and there are a lot of food inspectors who check different plants on a regular basis).
Another reason I’m glad I’m vegetarian.
@sixninezero: “This just affirms if you don’t know the source, you shouldn’t eat it.”
Nice sentiment but pretty unrealistic. We eat food that is grown/raised/manufactured under an almost infinite variety of conditions/methodologies from all over the planet. Unless you grow/raise all your food yourself and get your water from a source you control, you can’t really “know the source” of everything you eat.
The best you can do is use some general rules of thumb to keep yourself safer. Like “don’t buy pre-made hamburger patties”, or “if it comes from China, don’t put it in your mouth.”
It’s worth the $$ to buy better quality beef from a good butcher who knows the meat source. It may cost a LOT more but you shouldn’t be eating that much meat anyway!
@MeatInsider: “In a way, cruel”? These are
sentient beings, herded together and led into slaughter, and for what?
Some dipshit’s Big Mac value meal?
@Trai_Dep: If you really think we have a “free market” in the United States, you are so misinformed and naive that nobody should listen to a word you say on the subject.
I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt here… you could be deliberately lying about the free market for some reason best known to yourself.
“…while Jack in the Box and In-N-Out had ordered their suppliers to use other sources “until further notice.” Suddenly I’ve lost that feeling of dissapointment about not having an In-N-Out anywhere close to me.
@amccoll: or get mad cow disease. That is what they truly deserve.
@smitty1123: the public school kids are definitely not eating t-bones, but hamburgers.
Has any of this meat gone out to supermarkets under another label? I’ve never heard of Westland/Hallmark, how would I know if I have any contaminated meat in my fridge?
@veronykah: Seeing this recall as yet another total failure to put quality product over their bottom line, Upton Sinclair’s Jungle also came to my mind as well.
@Dooley: I hope you don’t buy the pre-washed, pre-packaged stuff. Where are produce farms located? Often near livestock farms. Where do produce farms get their irrigation water from? Downstream from the livestock farms. Hence the Eschericha coli problems we’ve been seeing. I was a vegetarian for the first ~20 years of my life. It was a vegetarian dietican who finally had me eat meat b/c my body wasn’t able to get enough protein from the veggies. Not a bad thing, meat tastes really good.
Noooooo, not In-N-Out!
Oh wait, there are none near me, the next time I get near one they should be on a different supplier
@Ftp1423: Sorry to say…it’s a parasite. The fish with the lowest parasite issue would be tuna….which is what I used to stick to… but wild tuna is being over fished…Wild tuna is the new sea bass….. The fish with the highest parasite problem is Salmon…especially salmon raised in salmon farms. On two separate occasions I’ve had halibut and snapper…in high end New York, restaurants … and found the same type of parasite/worm as shown in the video…though in my case they were cooked…not moving…. Needless to say, I didn’t eat it.
Bring on the cloned meat!!!
@DCGaymer: That makes sense since Halibut are bottom fish. I tend to stay away from fish that live most their lives on the bottom.
@Techno Viking: All fish are organic, otherwise it would not be a carbon-based lifeform.
Great. I can’t eat diary and corn in anything just makes me itch. Now I gotta give up beef and tuna?