US Beef Recall

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

The largest recall of meat in the USA's history:

BBC

US orders massive recall of beef

Workers at the plant are also accused of animal cruelty

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has ordered the recall of 143m lb (64.9m kg) of beef - the largest meat recall in the country's history.

The recalled products come from a California meat plant, which officials say broke rules on cattle inspections.

However, the department says the health hazard is minimal. Much of the meat was purchased for school lunch and other federal nutrition programmes.

The plant is also being investigated over alleged animal cruelty.

Caution

The USDA recalled frozen beef products from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co, dating back to 1 February 2006.
We don't think there is a health hazard, but we do have to take this action
Dick Raymond
USDA

The move surpasses a 1999 recall of 35m lbs of ready-to-eat meats, officials said.

Some of the beef was destined for federal welfare assistance programmes, as well as some major fast-food chains.

But officials said most of the recalled meat has probably already been eaten.

The USDA described the recall as Class 2 - meaning there is a remote probability that the product could harm health if consumed.

"We don't know how much product is out there right now. We don't think there is a health hazard, but we do have to take this action," Dick Raymond, USDA undersecretary for food safety, told AP news agency.

Downer

The recall was ordered after department officials said the plant did not consistently order inspections of cattle which lost the ability to walk prior to slaughter.

Such "downer" cattle are at greater risk of contamination by E. coli, salmonella or contracting mad cow disease, as they have weaker immune systems and greater contact with faeces than walking cattle.

They should either be removed from the food supply, or receive a more thorough inspection following slaughter, officials say.

Operations at the plant had already been suspended after an undercover video shot by the Humane Society of America came to light.

The video appeared to show crippled and ill animals being prodded with the blades of a forklift truck, kicked, given electric shocks and sprayed with high-pressure water hoses by staff.

Two former employees were charged with animal cruelty on Friday, and the investigation continues.

The company says it has now taken action to ensure all employees handle animals humanely.

[CountArach]

Good on the Government for buying meat from places that hadn't conformed to inspections! Way to look out for the citizenry. I suppose the youth don't really matter anyway - its not like they vote.

[Marshal Murat]

I've got no beef wit' dat.

[Fragony]

A very strong statement. Cows are there to eat but that doesn't mean you should treat them badly, any stress should be put to a minimum, also better for the meat, much softer. And if you treat animals badly they are much more prone to disease, especially meatcattle needs thorough inspection the risk is just too high.

[Lemur]

There's no practical reason why animals can't be killed quickly and painlessly. Anything else is laziness, greed or sadism. Not to mention bad business, as this slaughterhouse is discovering.

As WaPo noted:

One reason that regulations call for keeping downers -- cows that cannot stand up -- out of the food supply is that they may harbor bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease. It is caused by a virus-like infectious particle that can cause a fatal brain disease in people.

Another is because such animals have, in many cases, been wallowing in feces, posing added risks of E. coli and salmonella contamination.

The Humane Society and other groups have for years urged Congress to pass legislation that would tighten oversight at slaughterhouses.

If you think it's all okey-dokey, I recommend you view the following video, although I warn you, it may make you a little sick:

Humane society video

[HoreTore]

Horrible.

[Fragony]

If you think it's all okey-dokey, I recommend you view the following video, although I warn you, it may make you a little sick:

Not going to watch it but I have been in many a slaughterhouse because of my work and that is one horrible exception. I take it is a horrible video at least. I can guarantee you that, at least here, everything is done to make the animal as relaxed as possible, and it wasn't just because I was there because I had many friends working there. It's still horrible to watch for an animal-lover such as myselve but it's the best a necesary evil ever could be. Now if only they could improve transporting because there is a lot of room for improvement there.

[Xiahou]

As far as the meat itself, it's probably ok- you're supposed to cook meat enough to kill e.coli anyhow and mad cow is still pretty unheard of in the US.

As to the cruelty and disregard for the law exhibited by the slaughterhouse, they deserve any legal or PR beatdown that this causes.

[Tribesman]

As far as the meat itself, it's probably ok

Thats almost a Selwyn-Gummer , though of course he said the meat was perfectly OK . Then again you can see why he said it , as when another minister talked honestly about problems in food safety they lost their job .

mad cow is still pretty unheard of in the US.

Is that because of insufficient testing ?
The slaughterhouse in question is in trouble (in part)for not doing the "correct" testing , the "correct" testing is a reason why 65 countries put restrictions on US beef , because the "correct" testing isn't correct enough .

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

There haven't been many cases in the US though, right?

[Fragony]

As far as the meat itself, it's probably ok- you're supposed to cook meat enough.

Don't know about you but this is what a steak should look like.

[Beirut]

Don't know about you but this is what a steak should look like.

Indeed. But if you ever cooked any of that horrid mass-produced hamburger meat that rare, the last twelve hours of your life would be spent in fetal excrutiation on the floor as your insides forced themselves outside through every orifice in your body.

Uber-Gah!

[SwordsMaster]

That's definitely NOT what they'll get in "government sponsored food programmes". Adieu beef jerky.

[Xiahou]

Indeed. But if you ever cooked any of that horrid mass-produced hamburger meat that rare, the last twelve hours of your life would be spent in fetal excrutiation on the floor as your insides forced themselves outside through every orifice in your body.

Uber-Gah!

The idea is, iirc, that e.coli grows on the outside of a steak- so if you cook the surface to an adequate temperature, it should kill the bacteria while allowing you to still keep it nice and bloody inside. However, on ground beef.... where's the outside?

That's why irradiated ground beef is the way to go if you don't like your burgers well done. Atomic hamburgers ftw.

[Vladimir]

The idea is, iirc, that e.coli grows on the outside of a steak- so if you cook the surface to an adequate temperature, it should kill the bacteria while allowing you to still keep it nice and bloody inside. However, on ground beef.... where's the outside?

That's why irradiated ground beef is the way to go if you don't like your burgers well done. Atomic hamburgers ftw.

Exactly. That's why you need to clean your meat throughly before you beat it. I'm not too keen on radiation though.

[Fragony]

Guess what's for dinner tonight. Here is how to do it, 300 grams, 3 centimeters thick. Seasalt and mauled black pepper. 2 Minutes each side and 4 minutes in the oven at 80 degrees celcius. Perfection. Abusing cows is a crime but not preparing steaks properly, and by that I mean bloody and lukewarm in the inside and crispy on the outside, is an atrocity.

[Lemur]

Wife's been buying all of our meat from a local slaughterhouse that only deals with local meat. She's even got a deal worked out with a cattle farm not too far from here. I'm beginning to see the logic of all that effort on her part.

[Vladimir]

Wife's been buying all of our meat from a local slaughterhouse that only deals with local meat. She's even got a deal worked out with a cattle farm not too far from here. I'm beginning to see the logic of all that effort on her part.

Are you sure they aren't just dairy cows that have milked passed their prime?

It is good to support your local economy though.

[Lemur]

Are you sure they aren't just dairy cows that have milked passed their prime?

Trust me, the wife is paranoid about meat. She won't deal with a farmer who won't let her check out the place personally. The joint we get our beef from mostly supplies high-end restaurants in Chicago, where the same steaks sell for God-only-knows-how-much.

It's all well and good for her, but I can't picture your average Joe going to these kinds of lengths to get good food. In other words, what is working for Mrs. Lemur would not function as a nationwide model, I don't think.

[Papewaio]

My parents fatten cattle on the grass clippings from our Truffle Orchard.

[Xiahou]

Wife's been buying all of our meat from a local slaughterhouse that only deals with local meat. She's even got a deal worked out with a cattle farm not too far from here. I'm beginning to see the logic of all that effort on her part.

Meh, cook it properly and everyone should be fine unless BSE takes hold in the US. AFAIK, you're more likely to get e.coli from improperly handled veggies than from meat. I believe 145F internal temperature is considered adequate for steaks. Burgers? Nuke em.

[Lemur]

Yes, Xiahou, I know you believe that most food safety is bunk. However, Mrs. Lemur is convinced that getting beef that has not been treated with lifelong antibiotics and bovine growth hormone may have some small health benefits. Plus, it tastes real good.

Also, it's nice to know that when we slap down our dollars we aren't supporting mindless cruelty. It's harder to do that than you may think.

[Xiahou]

Yes, Xiahou, I know you believe that most food safety is bunk.

I just believe that baseless food fear-mongering is bunk. There are valid concerns for food safety, but much of what makes the press is driven by activists.

However, Mrs. Lemur is convinced that getting beef that has not been treated with lifelong antibiotics and bovine growth hormone may have some small health benefits.

Probably not much- antibiotics are to be administered early enough to be out of the system before slaughter. And bovine growth hormone isn't in a form that affect people. People have been eating these 'mutant' cattle for decades and there's no indication of any side-effects.

Plus, it tastes real good.

That's could be.

Also, it's nice to know that when we slap down our dollars we aren't supporting mindless cruelty. It's harder to do that than you may think.

I don't mind paying a little more for more humane livestock. It's also nice to know that the business in question was busted for what they did.

[Lemur]

Actually, for intensive factory farming, antibiotics are usually fed to the animal for its entire lifespan. It's one of the only ways to keep the animals more-or-less healthy under extremely stressful conditions. Among other things, this practice drastically lessens the effectiveness of our own antibiotics. (To accept this, however, you must also accept that pathogens can evolve.)

As for the assertion that BGH is super-safe for human ingestion, I'd say the jury is still out on that one. The stuff is banned in every developed nation but ours. And if the chemical stew fed to U.S. cows is largely kept away from my daughter, it's possible she won't go into puberty at age eleven. Unproven, but I don't see any reason not to feed her food that resembles what we evolved to digest.

Interestingly, the Humane Society says it picked the slaughterhouse at random. Naturally, the Beef Industry says the video is a freak, a sport, a one-in-a-million, and "nearly all cattle bound for American dinner tables are treated humanely."

I'd rather deal locally and know for sure my money isn't funding pointless evil.

I'm a big believer in capitalism -- where you spend your dollars is where you create opportunity and jobs. Every purchase is a little vote in our system. So the Lemur household drops its money on people who are verifiably humane.

Besides which, I can confidently ask for rare, bleeding meat, something you wouldn't want to do with factory farmed flesh.

[Xiahou]

I'd rather deal locally and know for sure my money isn't funding pointless evil.

I'm a big believer in capitalism -- where you spend your dollars is where you create opportunity and jobs. Every purchase is a little vote in our system. So the Lemur household drops its money on people who are verifiably humane.

That's all well and good- but as you point out, those aren't options available to most people. The trouble is when people get scared over stories like this and give up meat altogether or feel the need to opt for more expensive "organic" foods out safety concerns that are largely baseless. Might not be a problem for you and yours, but people of more meager incomes shouldn't be frightened of healthy foods because of scare-tactics and marketing.

Besides which, I can confidently ask for rare, bleeding meat, something you wouldn't want to do with factory farmed flesh.

I don't really like rare, I'm more a medium-rare guy. Regardless, the majority of steak cuts are from internal parts of the muscle that would not have e.coli. The way they get contaminated is from handling mistakes- which can happen with "farmed flesh" or "boutique meat".Luckily, the bacteria stays on the surface of the steaks- so give the surface enough heat to kill it and you're fine however you want it. Some people like eating raw steaks or tartare and usually get on fine doing so, but for me, I'll take the extra safety that a few brief minutes of cooking gives.

Remember, the biggest problem you face when cooking meats is cross-contamination. I'm sure it doesn't hurt to know your butcher and what kind of business he runs, but either way beef is pretty safe.

edit: To emphasize my earlier point- Food Fears Most Hurt the Poor
and
BST factsheet

[Lemur]

I don't mind the idea of people moving toward organic meat. By definition, this means non-factory farmed food, and I don't see anything but good in that. Factory farms are a relatively recent invention, and there's nothing very good you can say about them.

To be honest, the biggest expense in our way of getting meat hasn't been dollars, but time. We're paying only a fraction more than we would to buy factory farmed meat. The big investment was the research and phone calls the wife made. After her system was set up, the price difference was negligible.

I'm not sure that the uninformed, fear-motivated vegan is any more contemptible than the idiot who wolfs down two to three McDonald's meals per day. Both are functioning from ignorance.

Frankly, the biggest thing most low-income people could do to improve their nutrition would be to cook at home. It's cheaper than fast food and better for you. Getting out of Popeye's or Burger King and instead whipping up something at the stove would be the biggest boost a low-income family could get to its quality of food.

Linking to a junkfood blog, eh?

[Vladimir]

You know, maybe this is the FDA's fault. With all the meat I'm packing they've never been by.

[HoreTore]

I don't really care as much about the quality of the food as I care about the welfare of the animals. And no, I'm not a veggie nutter, I'm a farmer. But my mother taught me not to play with my food. As to the other mistreatment described, as Lemur said, that's sadism, greed and/or laziness. Which are three of the seven deadly sins...

You treat the animals as what they are, living creatures. Yes, they're food, but there's absolutely no reason to make them suffer more than they have to.

[Papewaio]

And if the chemical stew fed to U.S. cows is largely kept away from my daughter, it's possible she won't go into puberty at age eleven. Unproven, but I don't see any reason not to feed her food that resembles what we evolved to digest.

Having a balanced diet might actually lower the age of puberty. So having provider who provides food and a less stressful environment probably has more to do with the lowering age of puberty then hormones in the beef (as noted the US is the only first world country to use them, but they aren't the only one to have a lowering in the age of puberty)... so post WWII wealth and lifestyle might have a larger effect. I wouldn't want to eat food from cannibalistic cattle or ones with growth hormones.

Dad Baboons Help Their Daughters Mature

As for e coli in cattle meat it doesn't penetrate very deep as the lack of porosity of the cattle meat matrix stops them. On the other hand chicken and pork are quite porous so not only do they marinate easier, e coli and other bugs have an easier time of penetrating deep into a chunk of meat, so you need to cook them all the way through.

[Strike For The South]

As someone who has spent there entire life around farms ranches and grocery stores I cant tell you it pretty much all comes out in a wash. What you think is horribble for probably isnt that bad and what you think is great for you probably isnt all that special.