Did You Eat the Tainted Beef? Largest Beef Recall in US Has Consumers Wondering "Where's the Beef?" USDA Has Answers, But Won't Tell

That's right. 143 million pounds of tainted beef from Westland/Hallmark has been recalled, but if you ate any of it, chances are you don't know it.

But you could. The USDA knows which stores and locations got the potentially malignant meat but the info is supposedly confidential. However, the USDA itself has been sitting on a "rule change" for a couple of years that would allow them to divulge the actual locations where bad meat might have been distributed. Right now, the only thing that's public knowledge is the "lot numbers" on the meat packages. And when was the last time you paid any attention to the lot numbers on your burger patties -- or anything else for that matter? Making matters worse -- much of the bad beef was distributed to schools across the nation.

This shocking revelation comes just today from Consumers Union, in the wake of yesterday's story about the biggest beef recall in our nation's history. The story actually first popped up this year when the Humane Society revealed video that showed "downer" cows being made to stand up through use of electric prods, forklifts and other means so that inspectors would allow the cows to be used in the beef intended for human consumption. See the video here. When a cow can't stand up -- a "downer" -- it often means that the animal is ill -- or could have mad cow disease -- and it's against the law to allow those cows to be used in things like beef patties.

Jean Halloran, Director of Food Policy Initiatives for Consumers Union, noted, in a press release issued just an hour ago,that when it comes to recalled meat, there is no easy answer to "Where's the beef?"

"A consumer must search through dozens of lot numbers on the USDA website. Many of the Westland/Hallmark shipments were in large lots, so the information about the source of the meat may not appear on the retail package. If a store or consumer has discarded the meat package, there is no way to track back the meat," she said.

Last week, a coalition of groups asked USDA to disclose retail outlets carrying tainted beef. In
March 2006, USDA proposed to change its rules and disclose the names of retailers involved in meat recalls, but has yet to take final action. The group asked Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer for an immediate change in policy. A copy of the letter can be found here.

Of course, this latest recall brings up a number of nasty political issues that have simply pervaded everything this Bush administration has hacked its way through. Enforcement -- well, there's hardly any enforcement of any regulations on the federal level any more, for anything. How about all that lead in toys coming from China and other places? Where are the inspectors? The answer -- hardly any inspectors at all; same thing here with the tainted beef and the USDA.

Americans have to realize that this is exactly where our tax money SHOULD be spent -- and what we have now is rampant privateering with no accountability to anyone. Do you also know that the USDA has NO AUTHORITY to recall tainted food? The company itself has to issue a recall. The truth -- no one's protecting us from any of these nasty hazards.

But you can do something about this latest atrocity right now. Call the USDA's press office: 202-720-4623 and tell them that Agriculture Secretary Schafer needs to approve the rule change IMMEDIATELY that would give consumers access to the information they need to determine if they've eaten any of the bad meat. At least it's a start.

Follow Linda Cronin-Gross on Twitter: www.twitter.com/lindacgross@twi

Comments

[mbaty]

And just tonight we had to throw away some Buffalo patties; maybe they don't have the same regulations, but this Buffalo either had a urinary tract infection or bad kidneys...and we were forced to seek other food.
Along with all the information about where the meat comes from, we should have information on everything...why are household cleaners exempt? If I don't know what's in it, I have a very hard time using it, especially after all this nonsense...from the war on drugs counterpointed by the endless pharma commercials for drugs that don't cure and might kill, to the toxic toys and mercury-laden vaccinnes-­-including the ubiquitous pushing of the "flu vaccine," it's all so safe until someone discovers that the same poison used to kill roaches also causes health problems in humans. So much insanity. Oprah has it right, use "green" cleaning products, always always ask for more information, and vote Obama. Oh, and read Eckart Tolle. We've got to change all this. And we have to demand accountability.

[itmaybetoolate]

How about we stop eating beef? That will get their attention. The notification and regulation laws would change pronto in that case! All it takes is a growing national boycott of beef and there would be a change. I bet a threat of a boycott would do it. Why work through the government at this point? Call the beef industry and tell them that it's NOT beef for dinner.
Here's the # for the National Cattleman's Beef Association: 303-694-0305.

Will lazy, uninterested amuricans do such a thing? Nope. Too much trouble - gotta have those Whoppers. And anyway, it was just poor kids (free lunch program and all). When you think about it, it is sort of their fault - they shouldn't have been born to poor parents!

[Jude2004]

Haven't eaten meat in 34 years, so no worries here.

[SamThornton]

Just as in the Iraq War, where collateral damage is regretable but, sadly, inevitable, so in American bidness, croaking a few consumers is just part of the game.

Sorry 'bout that. Have some fries.

All this -- the poison toys, the drugs that kill instead of cure, the tainted food, and on and on -- would quickly come to a screeching halt if one CEO of one guilty corporation was prosecuted and convicted of just one of the murders they've committed through their depraved indifference.

[magen]

Ah yes.

The conservative republiCON policy of deregulating everything.

Very naive. You can't just trust business and industry to "do the right thing". In business when "doing the wrong thing" makes more money, and its not illegal (and sometimes even if it is) whatever the business is doing wrong becomes the accepted policy.

The health insurance industry is in the business right now of trying to figure out how to deny coverage to as many of its policyholders as it can.