The fallout from undercover video footage that reportedly shows inhumane treatment of cattle at a California meat company continues. Yesterday we reported that popular California chain In-N-Out had stopped buying beef from the company, and now McDonald’s and the USDA are also temporarily suspending business with the plant. The government says it hasn’t seen any evidence yet that meat from potentially sick cows has made it into our food supply [More]
McDonald's & USDA Stop Buying Beef From Controversial California Meat Company
By August 23, 2012
Escaped Cow Visits McDonald's Drive-Thru, Ponders Circle Of Life
By May 7, 2012
If you’re an attentive reader of this site, you know that people are always bringing inappropriate things to fast-food drive-thrus, hoping to get served. Mobility scooters. Snakes. Even pedestrians have tried and failed to acquire food. But when Darcy wandered up to the drive-thru window at a Colorado McDonald’s on foot, employees didn’t just wearily tell her to go inside the restaurant to order like all of the other pedestrians. That’s because Darcy is a dairy cow. [More]
FDA Bans "Extra-Label" Uses Of Popular Class Of Antibiotics On Farm Animals
By January 4, 2012
For those of you who are concerned about the amount of antibiotics being given to the cows, chickens, pigs and turkeys that provide (or end up as) the food on your plate, here’s some good news. The Food and Drug Administration has announced a new regulation that prohibits “extra-label” uses of a popular class of antibiotics. [More]
200 Wisconsin Cows Die In Incident Not Related To Slaughterhouse
By January 19, 2011
Another day, another mass animal death. Following the instant departures of — among other groups of animals — North Carolinan pelicans, Italian doves, Oceanic fish and Tucsonan bats, 200 cows in Wisconsin have died, most likely due to an infection. The hamburgers in training never saw it coming. [More]
Now In Farmed Fish: Mad Cow Disease?!
By July 5, 2009
Three scientists worry that feeding cow parts to farmed fish could expose seafood consumers to mad cow disease. The scientists published their findings in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and called on the government to ban cow meat and bone meal from appearing in fish feed.
How, Exactly, Did E. coli Get In Nestle's Cookie Dough?
By June 30, 2009
The recent discovery of E. coli O157 bacteria in NestlÈ refrigerated cookie dough and subsequent recall of 30,000 tubs of said dough raises an urgent scientific question: Uh, how did that much cow poop end up in cookie dough?
How Did E. Coli Get Into Nestle's Cookie Dough?
By June 24, 2009
USA Today is reporting that the FDA is “stumped” by the presence of E. coli 0157:H7 in Nestle Tollhouse Cookie Dough, which was recalled last week. How does bacteria normally associated with raw ground beef find its way into our buckets of delicious cookie dough? Some speculation, inside.
Farmers Slaughtering Dairy Cows Rather Than Lose Money Producing Milk
By June 22, 2009
It’s so expensive to produce milk right now — due to low demand and high feed costs — that farmers are being paid to slaughter dairy cows in order to “shift the pain to consumers,” says Bloomberg.
Kansas Governor Vetoes Hormone-Free Milk Labeling Bill
By April 24, 2009
Kansas Governor (and soon-to-be Health and Human Services Director) Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a Kansas bill that would have required a weaselly label on hormone-free dairy products.
Whole Foods Recalls Previously Recalled Meat. What?
By August 9, 2008
Whole Foods apparently never got that June memo to chuck Nebraska Beef contaminated with E. coli. The posh-man’s bodega announced yesterday that they are recalling the previously-recalled beef, which Whole Foods sold between June 2 and August 6. The contaminated beef has popped up in 24 states and sickened 49 people. Noted food safety litigator Bill Marler shows us that being a lawyer can be fun by posing six amusingly litigious questions for Whole Foods…
Cow Abuse Meatpacking Boss Reluctantly Admits To Tainting The Food Supply
By March 13, 2008
The president of a slaughterhouse at the heart of the largest meat recall denied under oath on Wednesday, but then changed his mind, that his company introduced sick cows into the food supply, says the NYT.
USDA Stops Production At Meatpacking Facility After Undercover Video Showed Sick Cows Being Abused
By February 7, 2008
So-called “downer” cows that are too ill to walk are not allowed into the food supply due to a higher instance of bovine spongiform encephalopathy ( mad cow disease)—which is why an undercover video taken by animal rights activists is causing a stir at the USDA.
Most Recalled Meat Is Eaten, Never Recovered
By December 9, 2007
Most recalled meat is eaten before it can be returned to the factory, according to a nauseating analysis by USA Today. Well-publicized and timely recalls catch slightly less than of all affected meat, a stunning accomplishment when compared to the recovery rates for tainted meat that sickens people.
Organic Principles, Regulations Ignored By Nation's Largest Organic Dairy
By October 21, 2007
Consumers in twenty-seven states are suing Aurora Dairy, the nation’s largest organic dairy for selling milk that failed to meet basic organic standards. The suit is bolstered by findings from USDA inspectors, who found that between December 2003 and April 2007, Aurora: “labeled and represented milk as organically produced, when such milk was not produced and handled in accordance with the National Organic Program regulations.”
By October 17, 2007
Wired talks to farmers who own cloned livestock and dairy cows—2nd and 3rd iterations of valuable original “models.” The FDA hasn’t officially approved cloned meat and milk for supermarkets yet, though, and lots of consumers still freak out. (Did you when you read that first sentence?) [Wired]
USDA To Meatpackers: You Have No Right To Test For Deadly Diseases
By May 31, 2007
The USDA has vowed to safeguard your meat by fighting reckless meatpackers that want to test their dead cattle for mad cow disease. The USDA’s current policy of testing less than 1% of cows is clearly succeeding since none of you have caught Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human variant of mad cow disease.
The Heifer Project: Not BS
By October 20, 2006
Paul D. wrote us in about an unsolicited catalog he got from The Heifer Project, a charity that purports to send cows, chickens and goats to the third world. He’s skeptical:
