Largest Beef Recall, Ever. Now, Real Change?

Maybe you're one of the more than 200,000 people who have seen this disturbing video revealing the animal cruelty caught on tape by a Humane Society investigation at a California slaughterhouse. (I, personally, couldn't stomach to watch it).

Whether you saw the video or not, you most certainly have heard the response: Prompted by public outcry, the company that processed meat from this slaughterhouse issued the largest beef recall in U.S. history even though -- oops -- much of the 143 million pounds recalled has already been eaten, including possibly by children in school lunches.

The animal cruelty was disturbing enough, what it revealed about possible threats to human health adds even more reason to be wary of the burger. The Humane Society investigation proved --they've got it on tape -- what many have been saying for years: that a loophole in federal legislation was being used to feed slaughtered "downer" cows into the food supply. Now, downer cows -- those too old or sick to walk or produce milk --are not supposed to find their way into our food. Why not? Because the symptoms of downer cows are the same as other diseases, including mad cow disease. And those slaughtered downers in the video were destined for a processing facility that provides meat not just for average Joe, but for other customers, like the National School Lunch Program. Sloppy Joe's just got that much less appealing.

But let's be clear. This incident -- including the abuse and questionable food safety of the meat from this slaughterhouse -- is not just a case of a few bad apples. It's the inevitable outcome of a system in which animal abuse and health concerns are predictable by-products of following the prime directive -- maximizing profit -- in a context of inadequate oversight.

The brutality captured in the video may be particularly extreme, but the nature of slaughterhouse's ramped-up production inexorably leads to such animal suffering. With pressure to keep lines moving fast, for example, workers often fail to completely stun animals, so that cows can be conscious during slaughter. And those production levels? They're soaring. Tyson, the largest processor in the country, slaughters 222,000 head of cattle a week, the equivalent of 1,321 an hour, seven days a week.

This high-octane production threatens eaters' health, too. Under such conditions, meat can become tainted with fecal matter, increasing the likelihood of contamination with the potentially deadly E. coli O157:H7 bacteria. Since April 2007, concerns about E. coli instigated recalls of at least 30 million pounds of beef -- enough to have provided a burger to every man, woman, and child in the nation. With this week's recall, add another four for each of us.

The production-at-any-cost beef business also holds the dubious distinction of being one of the country's major polluters, particularly of water. Among the nation's top 10 worst polluters of our streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, half are beef production facilities. But that's not the only water pollution. We've got to add to that the pollution from nitrogen fertilizer runoff from cropland devoted to animal feed. This runoff causes algal blooms in the Gulf of Mexico to swell to the size of New Jersey every year, creating dead zones where no aquatic life can survive.

Moreover, as we become clearer about the food system's role in climate change, we learn that the livestock industry -- of which cattle is a significant part -- is one of the worst greenhouse gas emitters, responsible for as much as one-fifth of all emissions. Just think of burgers as mini Hummers-on-a-plate.

How has the beef industry gotten away with such disregard for animal welfare, human health, and the environment?

Part of the answer lies in the growing concentration of power within the industry. Just four companies -- Tyson, Cargill's Excel, Swift & Co., and National Beef -- now control 71 percent of the beef market.

This tightening of control is felt throughout our political system. In the 2006 election cycle, the livestock industry funded lobbyists to the tune of $4.5 million. That same year, PAC and individual contributions from the livestock industry topped $5 million, with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association PAC alone spending almost half a million dollars.

The beef industry also expresses its influence in a revolving door between the industry's largest lobbying organization and our Department of Agriculture. The USDA's Director of Communications, for instance, was formerly the public relations director of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. The Chief of Staff for past USDA Secretary Ann Veneman had been the Association's executive director of legislative affairs and the USDA's Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs spent more than fifteen years at the Association before taking his post. You get the idea.

The investigation that sparked this recall is part of a broader campaign by Humane Society, which is putting its weight behind the Farm Animal Stewardship Purchasing Act to establish higher animal welfare standards and the Downed Animal Protection Act to close the loophole in previous legislation so that the slaughtering of downed animals for human consumption is finally banned. Speaking up for such legislation is one way to ensure that our elected officials hear our voices as loudly as they hear the voice of industry.

Comments

[provoked]

From the factory farm to the slaughterhouses.... there's not much a carnivore can be pleased with -

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. " Albert Einstein

For health & heart..... Go Vegan

[warwak]

384 lbs of meat from Westland was made into taco meat and fed to the children at Fox River Grove Middle School in April and May of 2007. You can confirm this with Jim Copp, Principal Consultant Division of Nutrition Programs and Support Services Illinois State Board of Education. Of course he will down play the risk - don't believe it! Although meat has been recalled, the children may have already been infected with a prion particle from an infected animal. Scientists have suggested that the incubation for this encephalitis-like brain disease can be many years. Mad cow is like a ticking time bomb.
http://inslide.com/foxrivergroveserveddowners.mp3
A list of State contacts to find out if your school was supplied with beef from Westland
http://inslide.com/agencies.htm
and a great educational cartoon for the kiddies
http://www.sfgate.com/comics/fiore/

[LJHJ]

After watching the video of the slaughter house, I was truly sickened. PBJ's all week.
I understand why my niece is a vegetarian.
I also would like to see the Protection legislation for human consumption, include domestic animals as well. As it stands, I'm afraid to find out what I really feed my animals.
And the postions being held in the USDA,
sound like a conflict of interest to me.

ljhj

[wildflowermaven]

In addition to the legislation, we should all get behind better treatment of the animals --read Temple Grandin's book Animals in Translation or visit her website. She has amazing insights, and has worked for years to improve treatment of animals, in particular cows, at slaughterhouses and other facilities. She has devised a short checklist that is easy for plant workers to follow, yet is much better at insuring humane treatment than the current USDA checklist.

[TheJewAndTheCarrot]

I agree with you, Anna, that while this one recall is shocking and disheartening, the inherent waste in the meat industry's "productio­n-at-any-c­ost" model is the true crime. As we've seen, recalls are a dime a dozen these days...at what point will the industry just brush them off as something that comes with the territory?
I wrote a post that explores this issue within the framework of Jewish tradition's mandate of "bal taschit" (do not waste).
If you're interested, you can check it out at The Jew & The Carrot blog:
http://jcarrot.org/wasted-meat-is-such-a-downer/

Leah

[unsinkable]

As if all that wasn't enough, there are other problems associated with factory farms, including workers rights, small-farm viability and local economies. That growing concentration of power in the beef industry effectively locks out family farmers, about 300 of whom go out of business every week.

I work for a nonprofit consumer education program called the Eat Well Guide, and we encourage ethical eaters to "opt out" of the industrial food system by supporting small-scale, local operations. Sourcing locally-grown, responsibl­y-produced food is not only safer and more ecologically sound, but helps to sustain local economies, as well.

A quick visit to the Eat Well Guide (www.eatwellguide.org) will pull up listings of local farms as well as markets, lodgings and restaurants that sell their products. Check us out--eating "good" meat not only helps you rest a little easier, but it tastes good, too.

[Pandu]

According to the law of karma as described in the Vedas, the souls of animal killers later enter the wombs of animals, taking birth in the species they killed, so that the former killer can be killed in the same way. Thus we can understand that our livestock of today were the meat eaters of past generations, and the meat eaters of today have a miserable future.

Those of us with a sense of ethics try hard to protect these animals and everyone from suffering, but when all our efforts fail to counteract the cruelty that so many people live by, it helps to remember that each of us is getting exactly what we deserve.

[klmebane]

is this actually surprising to people?? we live in a nation in which money is god, and anything done in the pursuit of money, as long as you don't get caught, is ok. the amount of corn and soy grown to feed livestock could feed all the starving people in the world. somewhere around 20% of the brazilian rainforest has been clear cut for grazing land and growing feed for these animals. an american born nun was murdered by hired guns in brazil because she opposed the landgrabbers destruction of an ecosystem. the brazilian rainforest produces a large portion of the rainfall in the area, and by destroying the delicate balance of the ecosystem further that rain may stop, which would kill off the rainforest not already decimated by chainsaws and bulldozers.


we need to seriously think about the world (and the mess) we are leaving for future generations. we need to stop these unsustainable practices because eventually they will make the planet uninhabitable if they continue. people need to stop acting as if there is an unlimited supply of trees, oil, and fresh water. without trees and fresh water humans won't be able to survive. climate change is causing deserts to expand at record rates, droughts, more violent storms and tornadoes, rising sea levels, melting ice caps, and driving many species to extinction. the earth is not here for us to use until its destroyed, we don't have anywhere else to go. we need to treat this planet like its the only one we have, because at this point it is. i don't want to contribute to dooming my daughter and everyone else's children to a miserable life of wars over water (which already happen in some parts of the world) and other resources.


i don't understand how people can go on about their business and not even think of the future of their friends and relatives. it's so selfish. regardless of whether or not people have caused or sped up climate change it is a problem that we must deal with in the here and now before its damages are irreversible.

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

I agree....our society is VERY SELFISH...and what's worse... the next generation of slackers, Xbox players and cheekbone piercers... is going to be in charge of the future. Ever try to have a conversation with a 20-something about current events? They have no clue. The desecreation of our planet is not going to stop with them...they just don't care about anything but themselves...and these are college educated kids.

We have been swallowed whole by big money... and we are literally rats trapped in a cage... being used as test subjects for whatever the next scheme big corporations come up with to make more money.

South America...and its rainforests, are a lost cause...education is almost non-existent...and most of the societies are religion and therefore, fear driven. The will to survive NOW... trumps any thought of the future....and that's everyone's future.

Enjoy it while you can...it's only going to get worse...and that makes me sad...because my child will have to bear the brunt of our excess-loving selfish society.

[CintiBlue]

"Fast Food Nation" lays it out.