SAndhusker, to answer your last and most assinine question with a question of my own: what on this earth makes you think that ANY of the dues of NCBA members goes to AMI????''
AND another one: WHY do you fail to understand (or is it that you won't admit) that NCBA members can see benefit of ALL segments of the cattle/beef industry occasionally working together on SOME issues WHEN IT BENEFITS ALL OF US????
You continually accuse me of "defending packers"......but that is NOT what I'm doing. I'm defending the BEEF INDUSTRY from production to consumer plate. Any cattle producer who does as some of your cohorts do, proclaiming "we don't produce beef" had darn well better get out of the business, because cattle ARE beef on the hoof, like it or not! Cattle producers MUST be involved in assuring quality from farm gate to consumer plate if we want consumers to have any respect for us.
I'M not getting it???? It is YOU who refuse to admit that it was/is important that efforts and protocols developed and used DID dramatically drop the number of incidences of e coli illnesses by over 70% for several years after implemented in 2000. WHY does that large decrease mean nothing to you? We can only estimate how many foodborne illnesses were prevented during that time, but it surely was as significantly less illnesses than in previous years.
The fact that incidences began to increase after a very large grinding operation ignored its own requirements to clean equipment and test incoming beef should make it understandable, even to you, that it isnt surprising e coli infections increased.
You also should be able to understand and recognize the fact that losing their business WAS punishment, and that there is probability (and yes, I certainly hope it is a certainty, but politics does exist, especially with the liberals in control right now, IMO) that fines will be levied and even damages awarded to those harmed. I believe there have been lawsuits filed for that purpose.
YOU are the one who does not want to admit sources other than bovine fecal matter CAN place e coli bacteria on meat. I've never said it is VERY likely, only that it is POSSIBLE for other sources to enter the plant innocently, accidentally, or carelessly (as would be the case with human sourced e coli contamination of beef). Small rodents can and do get carried into plants, or gnaw their way in, and can be VERY difficult to erradicate, and their fecal materials CAN be carried via heating and AC ducts, nearly invisibly, onto equipment and meat.
YOU fail to admit, or don't you know, that to get employees of higher quality, it is going to cost considerably more, but even more import than cost is the extreme difficulty of finding workers who are legal, can pass drug tests, and will work. Do you really believe packers (or any other business, for that matter) are NOT hiring the best quality employees they can find?
Do you honestly believe it is adequate "to WIPE crap off a carcass"? I know several different washes, rinses, and steam pastuerizing systems have been tried, and not all, if any, have absolutely solved the problem, obviously. But, it so much easier and self serving for you to accuse rather than to investigate to learn what has been and is being done by the industry in efforts to solve the problem.
I've repeatedly said how other sources of e coli can contaminate the beef. But you know that and just don't want to admit it is possible for other sources of contamination to occur. Obviously, you prefer to blame the packer than to solve the problem by searching out ALL possibilities.
I'm not defending any "status quo". I'm saying there is more accidental and even unknown sources and means of e coli contamination and I do not believe the problem will be solved until and unless that fact is admitted and tackled.
RobertMac, if e coli did NOT get into the gut of a calf or older bovine animal, it could not get into the beef, could it? Therefore, that COULD be the most critical control point. Right? Obviously, with hide contamination, it is NOT just a careless gutting of the animal that exposes the carcass and beef to e coli, so possibly washing the carcass WITHOUT spreading the miniscule fragments of fecal matter into the air, is the most critical control point. Taking the point of your inspector saying 100% ecoli free would require testing every piece of meat.........where do you go from there????
BTW, I have used, and won't hesitate to use irradiated beef, which I believe to be the most CERTAIN means of assuring e coli free beef, especially if immune systems in my family become seriously compromised due to illness.
e. "unaccountable": WHO has said that the multi-million pound recall was NOT negligent, or that producers SHOULD tolerate it????
But, people, PLEASE check the facts about e coli contamination and the difficulties of containing and/or controlling it! There is much to be learned, and not the least is the amount of time, money, and effort of SEVERAL segments of the industry, including packers!
What percentage of US beef was NOT recalled? While recent recalls SOUND huge, by comparison, is it really? While any illnesses and/or deaths are too many, we don't threaten or demand the slowing of production lines of the producers of cars because some who work in factories producing them and some drivers of them are careless and cause accidents, injuries, and deaths. We expect and get correction of any mistakes in production......just as we do for failures resulting in foodborne illnesses.
Recent recalls HAVE generated better, more frequent inspections AND more research to find more effective solutions to e coli problems. It WAS the Topps company decision to ignore its own HACCP program that caused the problem.
To innocent readers, I'm sorry for sounding a bit stern and "un-appreciative", maybe even slightly short tempered with Sandhuskers' comments and points of view. I believe he is damaging the industry that my family has lived in and on, with our grandsons as the fifth generation just getting a good start in it, in western SD. I do attempt to be civil, but do not always succeed, but can say that I don't give as bad as what I get on this site, either. Not a defense, just a fact.
mrj
mrj