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Humane Society releases new video of mistreated livestock

flounder

Well-known member
May 7, 2008, 2:44PM

Humane Society releases new video of mistreated livestock

By NATASHA T. METZLER Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated Press

TOOLS Email Get section feed Print Recommend Comments Yahoo! Buzz WASHINGTON — The Humane Society of the United States released video footage Wednesday of sick and injured livestock the group says were mistreated at auction sites and stockyards where cattle are sold for slaughter.

The group released videos shot during April and May showing downed cows abandoned for hours at facilities in Maryland, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Texas. The video was posted on the group's Web site.

"We found downed cows in a state of ill health, with no relief provided to the animals," said Wayne Pacelle, the organization's president and chief executive.

Downed cattle may pose a higher risk of contamination from E. coli, salmonella or mad cow disease because they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems are often weak.

Pacelle said there is no indication the downed cows his group filmed entered the food supply. But he added that the videos point out that auction sites fall between regulatory cracks, raising concern that a downed cow could potentially leave a facility and enter the food supply.

"Every place that we looked, we found downed animals," he said. "No one is watching. No one is taking responsibility for these animals."

The footage shows two downed cows at a site in Hereford, Texas; a downed cow that was left overnight outside an auction facility's barn in Westminster, Md.; two downed cows in at a site Clovis, N.M.; and a downed calf in Greencastle, Pa. In the Maryland case, investigators called the local Humane Society the next morning to euthanize the cow that spent the night behind the barn.

Pacelle said his organization had received a complaint about the Texas facility and had long-standing concerns about the Pennsylvania site. He said the New Mexico facility was chosen because it was close to Hereford and the Maryland auction because it was close to Washington.

"We intend to work immediately with the businesses where the improper handling reportedly occurred," Jim Santomaso, president of industry trade group the Livestock Marketing Association, said in a statement. "LMA shares everyone's interest in promoting the proper care and handling of all livestock, at all stages of their life."

A graphic videotape made inside a California slaughterhouse released by the same group in January led to the nation's largest beef recall.

The United States Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

___

On the Net: http://video.hsus.org/

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/5761660.html

IF you think that the USDA et al ordered the largest beef recall in history (some 143 million pounds), just over a couple abused animals, and that it was not a public health issue, i am hear to tell you, that is incorrect.

USDA DEAD STOCK DOWNER COW SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM i.e. non-ambulatory, the most high risk cow for BSE typical or atypical TSE (last two cows that were documented in the USA i.e. Texas and Alabama both were of the atypical BSE. please note ;

"Atypical forms of BSE have emerged which, although rare, appear to be more virulent than the classical BSE that causes vCJD."

Progress Report from the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center An Update from Stephen M. Sergay, MB, BCh & Pierluigi Gambetti, MD April 3, 2008

please see full text with additional comments and links @ ;

http://prionunitusaupdate2008.blogspot.com/

Sunday, March 16, 2008

MAD COW DISEASE terminology UK c-BSE (typical), atypical BSE H or L, and or Italian L-BASE

http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2008/03/mad-cow-disease-terminology-uk-c-bse.html

IS THERE A SCRAPIE-LIKE DISEASE IN CATTLE ?

In April of 1985, a mink rancher in Wisconsin reported a debilitating neurologic disease in his herd which we diagnosed as TME by histopathologic findings confirmed by experimental transmission to mink and squirrel monkeys. The rancher was a ''dead stock'' feeder using mostly (>95%) downer or dead dairy cattle and a few horses. She had never been fed.

We believe that these findings may indicate the presence of a previously unrecognized scrapie-like disease in cattle and wish to alert dairy practitioners to this possibility.

snip...

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH ANNUAL WESTERN CONFERENCE FOR FOOD ANIMAL VETERINARY MEDICINE, University of Arizona, March 17-19, 1986

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09a/tab01.pdf

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09/tab05.pdf

USDA DEAD STOCK DOWNER COW SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/04/gao-report-on-humane-methods-of.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/usda-certified-dead-stock-downer-cow.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/usda-still-pandering-to-industry-still_27.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/usda-still-pandering-to-industry-still.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/recalled-beef-from-chino-slaughterhouse.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/mad-cow-disease-typical-vs-atypical.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/downer-cow-blues-senators-want.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/mr-will-hueston-dvm-on-school-lunch.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/california-downer-cow-meat-worker-i-was.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/usda-questions-and-answers.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/usda-to-hallmark-we-want-our-plaque.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/house-committee-subpoenas.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/california-lists-possible-recipients-of.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/to-hard-working-employees-of-usda-and.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/02/beef-recall-nationwide-school-lunch.html

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/02/transcript-technical-briefing.html

[Docket No. 03-025IFA] FSIS Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk Materials for Human Food and Requirement for the Disposition of Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle

03-025IFA 03-025IFA-2 Terry S. Singeltary

9/13/2005

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/03-025IFA/03-025IFA-2.pdf

[Docket No. FSIS-2006-0011] FSIS Harvard Risk Assessment of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/2006-0011/2006-0011-1.pdf

second line of lies... i mean defense i.e. fda mad cow feed ban ;

Friday, April 25, 2008

Substances Prohibited From Use in Animal Food or Feed [Docket No. 2002N-0273] (Formerly Docket No. 02N-0273) RIN 0910-AF46

http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2008/04/substances-prohibited-from-use-in.html

Thursday, May 1, 2008

DEAD STOCK DOWNER COW BAN i.e. non-ambulatory policy still not changed by USDA May 1, 2008

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/05/dead-stock-downer-cow-ban-ie-non.html

Monday, May 5, 2008

STATEMENT OF DR. RICHARD RAYMOND USDA UNDERSECRETARY FOR FOOD SAFETY Regarding the Safety of the U.S. Food Supply

May 4, 2008

“Good evening. I am Dr. Richard Raymond, Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss with you the safety of the U.S. beef supply. I want to be sure that you are aware that I will be discussing food safety issues only, and I am not here this evening to discuss negotiations. “The U.S. Government believes the current agreement well addresses the health and food safety concerns of Korean consumers. It provides for Korea's sovereign right to conduct an audit of our facilities and to work with USDA inspection authorities if any food safety concerns are identified. When the OIE gave the United States "controlled risk" status a year ago, it was after the world's BSE experts reviewed the preventative and food safety measures in the United States. “Since the requirements to export to Korea are consistent with science, U.S. requirements as well as those of the OIE require that if any food safety concern is found, it would be fully investigated and immediately corrected by USDA. “I want to assure all consumers – both domestic and abroad – that the U.S. beef supply is among the safest in the world. ...

please see full text with some additional information the good Dr. Raymond seems to have forgotten about ;

http://usdameatexport.blogspot.com/2008/05/statement-of-dr-richard-raymond-usda.html

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Interference at the EPA - Science and Politics at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

please see full text ;

http://sciencebushwhacked.blogspot.com/

Thursday, April 24, 2008

RE-FOIA OF DECLARATION OF EXTRAORDINARY EMERGENCY BECAUSE OF AN ATYPICAL T.S.E. OF FOREIGN ORIGIN IN THE UNITED STATES [Docket No. 00-072-1]

http://foiamadsheepmadrivervalley.blogspot.com/2008/04/re-foia-of-declaration-of-extraordinary.html

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Health group urges overhaul of US food safety system Calling the US food safety system antiquated and disjointed, a public health advocacy group today urged a major overhaul to make the system stronger, more coherent, and better attuned to today's major threats.

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/fs/food-disease/news/apr3008tfah.html

Thu Dec 6, 2007 11:38

FDA IN CRISIS MODE, AMERICAN LIVES AT RISK

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/fs/food-disease/news/dec0407fda.html

FDA SCIENCE AND MISSION AT RISK

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/07/briefing/2007-4329b_02_01_FDA%20Report%20on%20Science%20and%20Technology.pdf

CJD USA RISING

*Acquired in UK ** Acquired in Saudi Arabia *** Includes 17 inconclusive and 9 pending (1 from 2006, 8 from 2007. **** Includes 17 non-vCJD type unknown (2 from 1996, 2 from 1997, 1 from 2001, 1 from 2003, 4 from 2004, 3 from 2005, 4 from 2006) and 36 type pending (2 from 2005, 8 from 2006, 26 from 2007).

Notes:

-- Cases are listed based on the year of death when available. If the year of death is not available, the year of sample receipt is used.

-- Referrals: Cases with possible or probable prion disease from which brain tissue or blood in the case of familial disease were submitted.

-- Inconclusive: Cases in which the samples were not sufficient to make a diagnosis.

-- Non-vCJD type unknown are cases in which the tissue submitted was adequate to establish the presence but not the type; in all cases, vCJD could be excluded.

-- Communicated by: Terry S. Singeltary Sr. <[email protected]>

[In submitting these data, Terry S. Singeltary Sr. draws attention to the steady increase in the "type unknown" category, which, according to their definition, comprises cases in which vCJD could be excluded. The total of 26 cases for the current year (2007) is disturbing, possibly symptomatic of the circulation of novel agents. Characterization of these agents should be given a high priority. - Mod.CP]

http://www.promedmail.org/pls/askus/f?p=2400:1001:6833194127530602005::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1010,39963

There is a growing number of human CJD cases, and they were presented last week in San Francisco by Luigi Gambatti(?) from his CJD surveillance collection.

He estimates that it may be up to 14 or 15 persons which display selectively SPRPSC and practically no detected RPRPSC proteins.

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/transcripts/1006-4240t1.htm

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/06/transcripts/2006-4240t1.pdf

JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY

MARCH 26, 2003

RE-Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob

disease in the United States

Email Terry S. Singeltary:

[email protected]

I lost my mother to hvCJD (Heidenhain Variant CJD). I would like to comment on the CDC's attempts to monitor the occurrence of emerging forms of CJD. Asante, Collinge et al [1] have reported that BSE transmission to the 129-methionine genotype can lead to an alternate phenotype that is indistinguishable from type 2 PrPSc, the commonest sporadic CJD. However, CJD and all human TSEs are not reportable nationally. CJD and all human TSEs must be made reportable in every state and internationally. I hope that the CDC does not continue to expect us to still believe that the 85%+ of all CJD cases which are sporadic are all spontaneous, without route/source. We have many TSEs in the USA in both animal and man. CWD in deer/elk is spreading rapidly and CWD does transmit to mink, ferret, cattle, and squirrel monkey by intracerebral inoculation. With the known incubation periods in other TSEs, oral transmission studies of CWD may take much longer. Every victim/family of CJD/TSEs should be asked about route and source of this agent. To prolong this will only spread the agent and needlessly expose others. In light of the findings of Asante and Collinge et al, there should be drastic measures to safeguard the medical and surgical arena from sporadic CJDs and all human TSEs. I only ponder how many sporadic CJDs in the USA are type 2 PrPSc?

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/eletters/60/2/176#535

THE PATHOLOGICAL PROTEIN

Hardcover, 304 pages plus photos and illustrations. ISBN 0-387-95508-9

June 2003

BY Philip Yam

CHAPTER 14 LAYING ODDS

Answering critics like Terry Singeltary, who feels that the U.S. under- counts CJD, Schonberger conceded that the current surveillance system has errors but stated that most of the errors will be confined to the older population.

http://www.thepathologicalprotein.com/

2007-2008

The statistical incidence of CJD cases in the United States has been revised to reflect that there is one case per 9000 in adults age 55 and older. Eighty-five percent of the cases are sporadic, meaning there is no known cause at present.

http://www.cjdfoundation.org/fact.html

In this context, a word is in order about the US testing program. After the discovery of the first (imported) cow in 2003, the magnitude of testing was much increased, reaching a level of >400,000 tests in 2005 (Figure 4). Neither of the 2 more recently indigenously infected older animals with nonspecific clinical features would have been detected without such testing, and neither would have been identified as atypical without confirmatory Western blots. Despite these facts, surveillance has now been decimated to 40,000 annual tests (USDA news release no. 0255.06, July 20, 2006) and invites the accusation that the United States will never know the true status of its involvement with BSE.

In short, a great deal of further work will need to be done before the phenotypic features and prevalence of atypical BSE are understood. More than a single strain may have been present from the beginning of the epidemic, but this possibility has been overlooked by virtue of the absence of widespread Western blot confirmatory testing of positive screening test results; or these new phenotypes may be found, at least in part, to result from infections at an older age by a typical BSE agent, rather than neonatal infections with new "strains" of BSE. Neither alternative has yet been investigated.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no12/06-0965.htm

CDC DR. PAUL BROWN TSE EXPERT COMMENTS 2006

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was quick to assure the public earlier this week that the third case of mad cow disease did not pose a risk to them, but what federal officials have not acknowledged is that this latest case indicates the deadly disease has been circulating in U.S. herds for at least a decade.

The second case, which was detected last year in a Texas cow and which USDA officials were reluctant to verify, was approximately 12 years old.

These two cases (the latest was detected in an Alabama cow) present a picture of the disease having been here for 10 years or so, since it is thought that cows usually contract the disease from contaminated feed they consume as calves. The concern is that humans can contract a fatal, incurable, brain-wasting illness from consuming beef products contaminated with the mad cow pathogen.

"The fact the Texas cow showed up fairly clearly implied the existence of other undetected cases," Dr. Paul Brown, former medical director of the National Institutes of Health's Laboratory for Central Nervous System Studies and an expert on mad cow-like diseases, told United Press International. "The question was, 'How many?' and we still can't answer that."

Brown, who is preparing a scientific paper based on the latest two mad cow cases to estimate the maximum number of infected cows that occurred in the United States, said he has "absolutely no confidence in USDA tests before one year ago" because of the agency's reluctance to retest the Texas cow that initially tested positive.

USDA officials finally retested the cow and confirmed it was infected seven months later, but only at the insistence of the agency's inspector general.

"Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything USDA did before 2005 suspect," Brown said. ...snip...end

http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20060315-055557-1284r

CDC - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Variant Creutzfeldt ... Dr. Paul Brown is Senior Research Scientist in the Laboratory of Central Nervous System ... Address for correspondence: Paul Brown, Building 36, Room 4A-05, ...

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no1/brown.htm

PAUL BROWN COMMENT TO ME ON THIS ISSUE

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 11:10 AM

"Actually, Terry, I have been critical of the USDA handling of the mad cow issue for some years, and with Linda Detwiler and others sent lengthy detailed critiques and recommendations to both the USDA and the Canadian Food Agency."

http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0703&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=8125

Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. Box 42 Bacliff, Texas USA 77518
 

flounder

Well-known member
Link: http://www.usda.gov/2008/05/0121.xml

Release No. 0121.08
Contact:
USDA Office of Communications (202)720-4623

Statement by USDA Secretary Ed Schafer on HSUS Animal Cruelty Video

WASHINGTON, D.C. May 7, 2008 "Late last week, the Humane Society of the United States notified me that they were in the early stages of an investigation into the mistreatment of farm animals transported to livestock auctions and stockyards. The dairy cattle shown in the video were non-ambulatory and were abandoned in parking lots of these auctions and yards. These animals were not in slaughter facilities. However, even though this is not a food safety issue, these actions of animal cruelty are not acceptable.

"USDA's authority to regulate the treatment of animals includes the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the Animal Welfare Act. The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act protects animals when they are presented for slaughter at federally inspected establishments. The Animal Welfare Act allows us to ensure the proper care of live animals when used in biomedical research, testing, and exhibition. When animals fall within our authorities, USDA has acted to prevent animal cruelty such as this.

Policies for humane handling of animals, however, consist of a combined effort of federal, state, and local authorities, as well as private industry. Since learning about this investigation, we are reaching out to states and industry groups to address this issue.

"In my conversation with the Humane Society last week, I expressed my sincere desire to work with them to resolve these atrocities, and I trust USDA was given all the information HSUS has on this issue so we can thoroughly address it. It is essential that we work together in good faith to address these issues, and ensure that animals are treated with care and dignity."


#
USDA News
[email protected]
202 720-4623
 

flounder

Well-known member
Saturday, May 24, 2008

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY ED SCHAFER ANNOUNCES PLAN TO END EXCEPTIONS TO ANIMAL HANDLING RULE (complete dead stock, non-ambulatory, downer cow ban)

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/05/agriculture-secretary-ed-schafer.html

TSS
 

flounder

Well-known member
USDA Officials Make Announcement on the Availability of Retail Lists during Recalls

July 11, 2008

Audio Link

SEC. ED SCHAFER: Thank you all for joining us. Good afternoon. I apologize for being late. We were out of the building, and on the way back, as always when you're running late, the people in front of you are driving the speed limit. But I am glad to be back, and I look forward to your questions and comments about this issue in a few minutes.

When I took office as Secretary, I certainly expected to be working on the Farm Bill and issues surrounding free trade and renewable fuels. But expectations are one thing, and events are another. Events, quite properly, set the agenda for issues that we focus on in government. As events have unfolded during the six months that I've been in office and making sure that our food safety system is as strong as it can be -- has been a very high priority for me and for USDA.

On my second day of the job here at USDA I was able to review a video tape - actually, a CD - of serious incidences of inhumane handling of animals at the Hallmark Westland meat packing plant in California. Actually we received the CD the first day I was in office, but it was coded so we couldn't get to it. I finally viewed it the second day, and that CD showed some very disturbing things. And it prompted us to immediately launch an investigation of what was going on at that facility.

As you know, it led us to initiate the largest meat recall in United States history, 143 million pounds of product produced by Hallmark Westland over the preceding two years.

Based on that experience, I determined that we would aggressively address our food safety system to see what improvements could be made. I also assured Congress and the American people back in February that we are going to treat this issue with the utmost urgency and do everything in our power to appropriately address this problem and to work to strengthen consumer confidence in our food supply.

We have already started taking steps to make a strong system even better. In May we proposed tightening our ban on nonambulatory or downer cattle entering the food supply. Our proposal to tighten our ban on nonambulatory cattle entering the food supply still has to go through a comment period and an approval process before it can be implemented. Since that will take some time, last month I called on the beef industry to voluntarily abide by the ban while the new rule is being developed. And to date we believe that industry has responded very favorably to that voluntary ban.

Today we are moving ahead with a new rule on recalls of meat and poultry products. In recalls that present a class I level of serious health risk, this new rule will allow us to release the names and locations of retail establishments where these products are sold. With that information, consumers will be better able to identify and return recalled products that may already have made their way to freezers and cupboards and pantries in consumers' homes.

Consumers have a right to know about health risks in food products, and this rule will give them more access to this information. We know from experience that one of the most valuable tools we have in fighting threats to public health is the prompt dissemination of useful information. And here at USDA the voice of experience in public health issues is our under secretary of Food Safety, Dr. Richard Raymond. Dick has been a strong advocate on this issue and spearheaded our effort to put this new rule in place, and I want to thank him for all the hard work on this issue over the last few years.

We proposed this rule back in March of 2006 and held a public meeting and collected comments on the rule. After reviewing and analyzing them, we submitted the draft final rule to the Office of Management and Budget in April of this year. We expect it will be published in the Federal Register next week and will take effect 30 days from that publishing date.

Since Washington is not the best place to learn about our food safety system and how it actually operates, I've also been visiting livestock and poultry processing plants around the country to see how things work in the real world. I was in Texas last month visiting beef and poultry plants; and earlier this week we were in Nebraska touring beef, pork and poultry plants there. I've been inviting members of the media along on these trips, and some have been brave enough to come along with us.

I can tell you that I have been impressed with what I've seen in our overall meat inspection system and the safeguards that are in place in these facilities. They include innovative technologies like ultraviolet light to detect possible e-coli presence on carcasses, and pasteurization and irradiation processes, all to kill all kinds of harmful bacteria. One interesting innovation we saw was a water pressure system that actually breaks down the cell walls of bacteria, assuring that meat in the package is bacteria-free.

But as our techniques evolved, so do bacteria and other pathogens we are trying to suppress. So inevitably we are going to be seeing ups and downs, and product recalls are going to occur. We believe the rule change we are announcing today will help us handle them more efficiently while reducing risks to public health. We're going to continue to take a critical look at our current food safety system, and when we identify other areas where improvements can be made we will not hesitate to act.

We want our consumers at home and abroad to know that we will continue to uphold the highest standards to protect the United States food supply.

And now Dr. Raymond will make some comments for us, and then we'll be happy to answer any questions that you all may have.

Dr. Raymond?

DR. RICHARD RAYMOND: Thank you, Mr. Secretary. As we all know, when there is a recall it means somewhere along the line something has failed. And so the quicker we can do an outbreak investigation, the quicker we can do a recall; and the more complete we can make the recall the better job we are doing to protect the American public and our foreign trade partners.

Most of you know I was a state health officer for Nebraska for six and a half years before I came to the USDA in this position, and one of the frustrating things I had as a state health officer was when the USDA would announce a recall. Just imagine that you are the public health official trying to improve the health of the citizens of your state and you receive a notice that 500,000 pounds of ground beef has been recalled that was distributed in Nebraska. Now what are you supposed to tell the public? Don't eat ground beef? Cook your ground beef to 160 degrees, don't cross-contaminate, whatever? You can't tell them if it was in their freezers, their refrigerators or if they consumed it. You could only say it was sold in Nebraska. That was no help to me as a state health officer.

So when I had the opportunity to come to the USDA, and one of my first projects was to find out why that problem existed and what steps it would take to change it. I was told rulemaking is the only possibility, so we began rulemaking. As the Secretary said, we introduced this rule in March of 2006.

We need this rule to reinstill the confidence of the American public that we are in control. When we can announce the retail stores that this product was sold at, that educates the consumer; and an educated consumer is an empowered consumer. And it gives them the ability to make decisions that affect theirs and their family's health. And that's what they want when there are times of crisis.

I don't think a recall is a crisis, but if it's your child that's sick it certainly is a crisis. We need the American public to be empowered to make those decisions.

I would use the most recent recall as an example. We had a couple recalls involved last week. Kroger's announced a recall and said, "Our ground beef that we produced may be contaminated with e-coli; it has caused illnesses in a certain number of patients in these states and it was sold at these stores. And if you bought ground beef from Kroger's stores with a "use by" date that's such and such, destroy it or bring it back."

People knew exactly what stores it was.

When we did the Nebraska beef recall, we said, "5 million pounds of ground beef is being recalled; it's been distributed in these multiple states." And that's it. That's all we could tell the public at the time -- in direct contrast because of the rules we operate under. And that's why these rules need to be changed.

Our current system is good, but as with most things it can stand improvement. Not too many years ago, USDA started putting pictures of the product that was being recalled on the FSIS webpage. And I would submit to you and to industry and to others that that was a good move.

But the most vulnerable public to getting food borne illnesses and dying are the very elderly and the very young, and they are not going to the FSIS webpage on a regular basis. My mother is 85 years old; she doesn't own a computer and she's not going to use a computer. She will go to her death saying, I never looked at a webpage. And there are many elderly like that, and they are the ones that we need to protect.

And then the very young whose parents are very busy trying to make an income, trying to save money for college -- they are not going to run to our webpage to see what the picture looks like.

So what we need to do is to get the information to the public that can be understood. On our recent trip to Nebraska, I pointed out to the Secretary and the Communications Office that when there are ground beef recalls announced in Nebraska, it's on the third page of the business section because in Nebraska recalling ground beef isn't much of a public health issue as it is a business issue, being a beef state. So not all states take our announcements and put them where people will see them.

But when we announced that there's a recall in Nebraska and it's sold at these stores, those local health officers and those state health officers out there can get on the 6:00 news. This now becomes a news item that will be on the front page above the fold of the evening newspaper or the morning newspaper because it is now very local. It is now very useful information that the media will want to give to the public. And those local and state health officers who have been frustrated like I was frustrated will want to get that message out there to the consumers so they do destroy the product.

It's a tremendously simple move, it's a tremendously common sense move, but it will also be a tremendously effective move I firmly believe.

And with that, I think we'll open it up to your questions and answers.

SEC. SCHAFER: We have here at the podium Dr. Raymond as well. And Phil, why don't you join us? Phil Derfler is the assistant administrator for Food Safety Inspection Service, for the technical expertise to have here. Okay.

Any questions? Yes.

REPORTER: Christopher Dearing with Reuters. Dr. Raymond or Secretary Schafer, can you explain exactly how this is going to work? Like, okay, we have a recall; are you going to put out the facts you've been putting out now, and then are you going to update the list once you find the retailers? Because it's going to take awhile for them to actually figure out if they have the product on the shelves or if they were one of the companies involved. So are you going to update the lists as you get more companies, or how is this all going to work?

DR. RAYMONDR. RAYMOND: You are right, Christopher. First of all, we will continue to do the recalls exactly as we do them now. When we have information, it will be made public. Pictures will go on the webpage, and we'll announce the states it's been sold in. As soon as we have a listing of the retail stores - and we have to get that listing because part of our effectiveness checks involves our employees going into these stores to make sure the product has been pulled off the shelves, make sure the retail or wholesale establishment has been notified by the company.

So we have to learn the names of the stores to do our effectiveness checks. As we learn the names of the stores to, we will add to our recall notices. We will send directly to those states involved. If on the first notice we listed retail stores in two states and two days later we found out there was a third state involved, that state health officer will be notified directly by us so they can do whatever they need to do to get it to the media that we've added it to the list of stores. It will not be a static list; it is a list that will change change.

And we have been, as one of the criticisms have that have been made, I feel information is information. Right now we don't give the consumer any information about the retail store, and if we have half the stores on the second day, that's more knowledge than they currently get, and we will just make it a daily update.

REPORTER: Do you have an estimate of how long it might take to get retail stores?

DR. RAYMOND: I'm sorry. You were supposed to identify yourself, sir. We anticipate from the time we begin the recall process it will take two to three days to have a very accurate, very good listing of the stores. But we do know that there may be some others that will be identified because that store may have sold down the stream to another store.

SEC. SCHAFER: Who's next? Go ahead.

REPORTER: Bill Tomson with Dow Jones. This is a practical question. Is it up to the stores to report to you, or do you have to go there to gather this information where it is? Who's responsible for collecting the names? And is there any type of penalty if stores don't give their name?

And if you'll forgive me, a second question. A lot of things that you were saying, Dr. Raymond, about this being a matter of logic and so forth, it takes me back a few years at an appropriations hearing when it seemed to be Congress lawmakers saying what you just said. And the Bush Administration - I think it was Dr. Morono (ph) at the time - saying, "Oh, it's not necessary." When did the administration change its mind on this, and why did it take so long?

SEC. SCHAFER: I'll answer the second part if you answer the first part. Go ahead, you can take the first part.

DR. RAYMOND: I want to do the second part.

[Laughter]

SEC. SCHAFER: Okay. Well, you do the second one too.

DR. RAYMOND: The first part. It's part of our recall process is to work with the store, the establishment that either processed or slaughtered the meat. And when we trace back to the source, we've always had full cooperation with industry. Our recalls, as you well know, are voluntary. We've never had industry refuse to do a recall. We don't need mandatory recalls for the food safety inspection system. They worked very cooperatively with us. They will give us a list of distributors, wholesalers or retailers that they have sold their product to.

Our next step is to go to the wholesalers, distributors or retail stores and say, "Where did you distribute this to?" It doesn't happen overnight. It takes a little while depending on how big the product is, how many stores are involved. We find out the names of the stores; we go to the stores to make certain that they have been notified to recall the product. It's a chain of events.

The retail stores don't notify us of anything. We go to them and ask them, "Were you notified, and where was this product out on your shelves?" We make sure it's been pulled from the shelves. That's called the effectiveness check. We do a lot better job with effectiveness checks than we did seven or eight years ago, which is one of the things, Bill, that has allowed us to take a look now at having this retail identification.

Because a few years ago our effectiveness checks were not nearly as effective as they are now, and it was more difficult to get the names of the stores. We're just better prepared to implement this rule at this time.

SEC. SCHAFER: That's kind of getting into the second part. Do you want to go ahead?

DR. RAYMOND: Part of that's the second part, and the other part is, I came here July 18, 2005, with a mission. And some of that mission was to educate people why I felt there was a need for retail store identification. That job was done. We now will have a rule posted next week.

REPORTER: (off-mike) changed their minds here?

DR. RAYMOND: Perhaps.

REPORTER: The effectiveness things are more corrected.

DR. RAYMOND: The effectiveness things. We were getting more effective long before I got here. They came together.

SEC. SCHAFER: Yes. Go ahead.

REPORTER: Erica Warner with AP. As I understand this will apply only to class I recalls. You started out by talking about the Westland Hallmark recall, which if I'm correct is a class II recall. So just explain why it's not appropriate to do this also in the case of class II recalls, which I think is what you had initially actually proposed.

SEC. SCHAFER: I started out talking about the downer rule, which was a class II recall because we also have taken action on that to assure the public to change the issue that we won't allow downers anymore in the system. I feel it's important to look at a class I situation. As Dr. Raymond and I had a chance to have some conversation about this starting I think before I was even confirmed, we talked about this rule and the need for it. It becomes I think real clear that when you have a public health risk, people need to know.

As we look at other efforts, class II recalls, other types of recalls, when it isn't a public health risk we don't want the public to be confused that this is something that can harm you, something that is bad, somebody has a rule violation or a label problem. You know, it isn't a health risk. So we don't want to unnecessarily scare the public, we don't want to have them think, 'Oh my goodness, this is a problem, if I get some of this in my pantry I'm going to have a sick child.'

You know, we want to assure the consumers that if they see a class I recall and they see their retail store there, they know this is a problem and that they should be aware.

REPORTER: And could you just, for the benefit of myself if not others, explain how you determine when something is a class I recall versus a class II recall?

SEC. SCHAFER: Sure. Do you want to?

DR. RAYMOND: Yes. Absolutely. We have a Recall Committee that is convened whenever there's a possibility of a recall. That committee makes that decision. The definition of a class II recall is that there is a remote probability that it may cause health - if you consume this product. The key words there are "remote probability." We cannot say that it is mathematically zero, so therefore we label it class II.

Class III is, there is no possibility. Class III as an example, poultry may on the label may say, "May contain up to 12 percent water." If we find in testing that it's 16 percent water, that's mislabeling, and there would be a recall. But there's absolute zero risk.

The Hallmark example was a class II because we felt that mathematically it was not zero but it was as close to zero as you can get. There was no harm would come from eating that product. It was a rule violation which prompted the recall, and so that was a class II.

Class I means there was a good likelihood you will become ill or maybe even suffer death if you consume this product. It's usually fairly straightforward.

SEC. SCHAFER: Any other questions?

REPORTER: I actually have another question. But just in the process of getting the names from I guess the beef companies of where they sold to, etcetera, it is voluntary that they give you that information? And what if they don't? Then what do you do?

DR. RAYMOND: Phil has been doing this a long longer than I, to answer that.

PHIL: They voluntarily give it to us, but we have statutory authority to get it if anyone didn't. But generally there's total cooperation, and they give us the information.

REPORTER: You don't expect that will change once this new rule is in place?

PHIL: We have no reason to be concerned about that at this point.

REPORTER: But you could subpoena them?

PHIL: If necessary we would consult with our lawyers, yes.

SEC. SCHAFER: Bill?

REPORTER: One quick follow-up. Bill Tomson with Dow Jones. The prohibition on downer cattle was first enacted, I'm trying to remember, just make sure I'm right - the prohibition on downer cattle was first implemented by Secretary Veneman in the wake of the first discovery of BSE in the United States. And it was implemented to assure the public that BSE is not getting into our food supply, which is a human health risk.

SEC. SCHAFER: The downer cow was one of a strong overlapping issue.

REPORTER: But breaking that rule is not a health risk.

SEC. SCHAFER: Bill, you know, as the United States, USDA and others responded to the threat of BSE on a limited basis in the United States, a strong overlapping system of food safety was put in place: the feed ban, ruminant-to-ruminant feed, the removal of the SRMs or the special regulated materials.

The downer issue is one. And as you know in the Hallmark plant, the downer issue here was a secondary inspection from a cow that had already been inspected by a vet, and it had been passed for processing.

So with all of those overlapping safety measures in place, we felt this is not a health risk; there's not a risk of BSE. There are some organizations of people out there that tried to combine those and tried to make it seem like it was some kind of a public health threat. If it would have been a public health threat, we would have done a class I recall. This is clearly a class II recall situation because of the variety of safeguards that are in place. So we could assure the American public it was not a health risk.

REPORTER: Thanks.

SEC. SCHAFER: More, more. Oh, they're wakening up. Go ahead.

REPORTER: I'm Ben Goad from the Press Enterprise. I just want to be sure that the Westland Hallmark would have had, would not have been impacted by this rule at all, correct?

SEC. SCHAFER: They would have been impacted by the new downer rule. It would not be impacted, or the retailers wouldn't be impacted by announcing the retailers where this meat went.

REPORTER: In terms of the downer rule, can you give any estimate on when that will be published?

SEC. SCHAFER: I recall September, but I don't know.

PHIL: We're working on it right now, and we hope to have a draft out in September or very early in the fall. We're working on it though very hard right now.

SEC. SCHAFER: When I heard September, I asked that it be put on the fast track system; so hopefully we'll get it by September or earlier, fast as we can get it.

REPORTER: -- public comments?

SEC. SCHAFER: For publishing.

REPORTER: For publishing.

SEC. SCHAFER: Correct. Erica?

REPORTER: Thank you. I know there's been opposition from industry to disclosing retailers, so I'm wondering if that played any part in your decision to limit this rule to only class I recalls.

SEC. SCHAFER: It didn't for me. When Dr. Raymond and I talked about instituting this, what made sense as we talked about it is 'public health risk,' letting people know where they may have a problem with the food they purchased in the past or might purchase currently. So that was clearly the issue here. I haven't been around long enough to know about the pressure from the industry or the retailers or whatever. I think we made the decision clearly on a public safety issue and that made the most sense and would be the least confusing to the consumer.

Yes?

REPORTER: Duncan McKenna with NBC. I was just wondering, you say information is good no matter what, but at the same time how will this affect industry in the sense that if the manufacturers or wholesalers are published in the future, families might look back and say, 'You know, Kroger had this at one point, but the black market's still there, so are you going to keep on going to Kroger or are we going to change retailers?' How is that going to affect industry?

DR. RAYMOND: That's a very good question and one that we have worked hard to resolve. And I want to give you a couple of examples that helps sometimes when I explain this to people.

If you buy a new car and six months later you get a notice from that manufacturer that says they've detected that some of the cars have faulty brakes, 'Bring it back in and we'll fix your brakes for free,' you'd probably feel happy that company takes your safety as number one, doesn't worry about their reputation. They notified you to bring your car in and fix the brakes. And you probably will go back to that company for your next car.

If they send you a letter ever month saying there's a bolt in the driver's seat, there's a problem with the fuel tank may explode, pretty quick you're probably going to go to a different company, and you should when you buy your next car.

If you go to a retail outlet store to buy your groceries and every month they are issuing a notice to you that there's been a recall, you may want to question where they're buying their product from. Because that's not going to happen; we don't do that many recalls.

I would think the public would be glad that the retail stores took their health first. And there are some examples. There are some very strongly proactive public health retail grocery stores out there that when there is a recall that involves ground beef or other products sold in their store, they do mass calling of their customers. With those little bar cards, they could tell you, 'We have 75,000 customers identified that bought ground beef in these five days,' and they are mass notifying those people. And those people are responding to them in a positive fashion saying, Thank you so much. They have not lost customer loyalty whatsoever.

SEC. SCHAFER: And if you're moved to buy a new car, make sure it's from an American company.

[Laughter]

Any other questions or comments?

Thank you.

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/


Over the next 8-10 weeks, approximately 40% of all the adult mink on the farm died from TME. Since previous incidences of TME were associated with common or shared feeding practices, we obtained a careful history of feed ingredients used over the past 12-18 months. The rancher was a "dead stock" feeder using mostly (>95%) downer or dead dairy cattle and a few horses. Sheep had never been fed.

http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09/tab05.pdf


USDA CERTIFIED DEAD STOCK DOWNER COW SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM

http://downercattle.blogspot.com/



Subject: [Docket No. FSIS-2006-0011] FSIS Harvard Risk Assessment of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/2006-0011/2006-0011-1.pdf

[Docket No. 03-025IFA] FSIS Prohibition of the Use of Specified Risk Materials for Human Food and Requirement for the Disposition of Non-Ambulatory Disabled Cattle

9/13/2005

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/Comments/03-025IFA/03-025IFA-2.pdf

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Implementation of 2008 Feed Ban Enhancements Questions and Answers July 15, 2008

http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2008/07/implementation-of-2008-feed-ban.html


Audit Report

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) Surveillance Program - Phase II

and

Food Safety and Inspection Service

Controls Over BSE Sampling, Specified Risk Materials, and Advanced Meat Recovery Products - Phase III

Report No. 50601-10-KC January 2006

Finding 2 Inherent Challenges in Identifying and Testing High-Risk Cattle Still Remain

Our prior report identified a number of inherent problems in identifying and testing high-risk cattle. We reported that the challenges in identifying the universe of high-risk cattle, as well as the need to design procedures to obtain an appropriate representation of samples, was critical to the success of the BSE surveillance program. The surveillance program was designed to target nonambulatory cattle, cattle showing signs of CNS disease (including cattle testing negative for rabies), cattle showing signs not inconsistent with BSE, and dead cattle. Although APHIS designed procedures to ensure FSIS condemned cattle were sampled and made a concerted effort for outreach to obtain targeted samples, industry practices not considered in the design of the surveillance program reduced assurance that targeted animals were tested for BSE.

snip...

Inherent Limitations in Identifying and Testing High-Risk Cattle APHIS obtained significantly more samples for testing than they originally anticipated would be needed to achieve its stated level of confidence in estimating the prevalence of BSE in the U.S. herd. Because of the voluntary nature of its program, however, we could not determine how successful APHIS was in obtaining a representative proportion of high-risk cattle for testing. Our prior report recognized the significant challenges for APHIS to obtain samples from the high-risk population because of the inherent problems with obtaining voluntary compliance and transporting carcasses for testing. APHIS took steps to obtain facilitated pathways, by entering into over 100 agreements, to collect and test brain samples for BSE. However, using USDA published data that estimates the distribution of the cattle population, as well as those that died or became nonambulatory, we could not determine whether APHIS achieved either geographical representation or representation of the desired surveillance stream (clinical suspects, fallen stock, casualty slaughter fallen stock, and routine slaughter). Findings 1 and 2 present the conditions noted that impact this evaluation. USDA Testing Protocols and Quality Assurance Procedures In November 2004, USDA announced that its rapid screening test produced an inconclusive BSE test result. A contract laboratory ran its rapid screening test on a brain sample collected for testing and produced three high positive reactive results. As required, the contract laboratory forwarded the inconclusive sample to APHIS’ National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) for confirmation. NVSL repeated the rapid screening test, which again produced three high positive reactive results. Following established protocol, NVSL ran its confirmatory test, an immunohistochemistry (IHC) test, which was interpreted as negative for BSE. Faced with conflicting results between the rapid screening and IHC tests, NVSL scientists recommended additional testing to resolve the discrepancy but APHIS headquarters officials concluded that no further testing was necessary since testing protocols were followed and the confirmatory test was negative. In our discussions with APHIS officials, they justified their decision to not do additional testing because the IHC test is internationally recognized as the “gold standard” of testing. Also, they believed that

conducting additional tests would undermine confidence in USDA’s testing protocols. OIG obtained evidence that indicated additional testing was prudent. We came to this conclusion because the rapid screening tests produced six high positive reactive results, the IHC tests conflicted, and various standard operating procedures were not followed. Also, our review of the relevant scientific literature, other countries’ protocols, and discussions with experts led us to conclude that additional confirmatory testing should be considered in the event of conflicting test results. To maintain objectivity and independence, we requested that USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) perform the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) Scrapie-Associated Fibrils (SAF) immunoblot test. The additional testing produced positive results. To confirm, the Secretary of Agriculture requested that an internationally recognized BSE laboratory in Weybridge, England (Weybridge) perform additional testing. Weybridge conducted various tests, including their own IHC tests and three Western blot tests. The tests confirmed that the cow was infected with BSE. The Secretary immediately directed USDA scientists to work with international experts to develop new protocols that include performing dual confirmatory tests in the event of an inconclusive BSE screening test. We attribute the failure to identify the BSE positive sample to rigid protocols, as well as the lack of adequate quality assurance controls over its testing program. Details of our concerns are discussed in Findings 3 and 4.

snip...

Controls (Firewalls) to Prevent BSE in the Food Supply USDA instituted proactive procedures to prevent tissues and products that could possibly contain the infective agent for BSE from entering the food supply. FSIS performs inspections on cattle before slaughter (ante mortem) to observe clinical signs that may indicate a central nervous system disorder or other signs that may be associated with BSE. Such animals are condemned and prohibited from slaughter for human consumption. FSIS also identified high-risk beef tissue and products as SRMs, and banned them from the food supply. FSIS inspects slaughter processes to verify that slaughterhouses have incorporated controls for handling SRMs into their operational plans; adequate procedures must be in place for removing, segregating, and disposing of SRMs. OIG reviewed the SRM plans of several establishments, observed FSIS inspection procedures, and evaluated the effectiveness of controls during the slaughter process. We did not identify SRMs entering the food supply. However, due to the lack of adequate records, we could not determine whether SRM procedures were followed and/or were adequate in 9 of

12 establishments visited during the audit. There is no requirement in the United States for the age of animals to be recorded, therefore, APHIS and FSIS rely on meat establishments to determine the age of cattle slaughtered using documentation or dentition. SRM restrictions apply predominantly to cattle 30 months of age or older. FSIS periodically checks the accuracy of age determinations through dentition; however, we could not determine how often these checks are made. We found that improvements can be made in the following areas. • FSIS approved an alternate ante mortem inspection procedure that limited the number of cattle subject to inspection. FSIS discontinued this procedure during the audit. • FSIS does not have an information system capable of readily identifying the scope of, and trends in, noncompliance violations relating to SRMs. • Most of the establishments reviewed did not have adequate SRM plans, and FSIS did not always identify these deficiencies. • Several of the establishments did not comply with their SRM plans and/or maintain records to support that they follow their plans. FSIS has addressed the specific cases of noncompliance identified during the audit. Findings

snip...

Downers and Cattle that Died on the Farm

Our prior audit recognized the significant challenge for APHIS to obtain samples from some high-risk populations because of the inherent problems with obtaining voluntary compliance and transporting the carcasses for testing. USDA issued rules to prohibit nonambulatory animals (downers) from entering the food supply at inspected slaughterhouses. OIG recommended, and the International Review Subcommittee33 emphasized, that USDA should take additional steps to assure that facilitated pathways exist for dead and nonambulatory cattle to allow for the collection of samples and proper disposal of carcasses. Between June 1, 2004, and May 31, 2005, the APHIS database documents 27,617 samples were collected showing a reason for submission of nonambulatory and 325,225 samples were collected with reason of submission showing “dead.”

snip...

We also disagree with APHIS/FSIS’ contention that because they have tested over 375,000 of their 446,000 estimate of high risk cattle, few in the high-risk population are being missed, including those that might be pre-screened before entering a slaughter facility’s property. In our prior audit, we reported that APHIS underestimated the high-risk population;

*** we found that this estimate should have been closer to 1 million animals (see Finding 1).

snip...

The policy stated in the preamble to 9 CFR 309.2(b)104 states that FSIS has excluded all nonambulatory disabled cattle from the human food supply, regardless of the reason for their nonambulatory status or the time at which they became nonambulatory (emphasis added). If an animal becomes nonambulatory in route to the establishment due to an acute injury, it must be humanely removed from the truck, humanely euthanized, and the carcass properly disposed of. Likewise, cattle that become nonambulatory on the establishment premises, such as an animal that breaks its leg as it is unloaded from the truck, are also required to be humanely moved, humanely euthanized, and the carcass disposed of properly. However, an FSIS notice105 states that if cattle are ambulatory at ante mortem inspection and become nonambulatory disabled prior to slaughter, the VMO should verify that the animal suffered an acute injury and allow the animal to proceed to slaughter and post mortem inspection. FSIS would expect such situations to be extremely rare because cattle, when handled and moved under proper humane handling conditions, should not be injured while being moved in pens. For cattle that become nonambulatory disabled after ante

mortem inspection, if the VMO cannot determine that a specific, acute injury occurred that caused the animal to become nonambulatory disabled, the animal is to be condemned and cannot enter the slaughter establishment. There appears to be inconsistent USDA policies related to slaughtering downers/nonambulatory cattle. Regarding animals for slaughter, it is clear that downers will not be slaughtered. In fact, one report106 states: “The U.S. Policy is to condemn all cattle that are nonambulatory or disabled when presented for slaughter." The Department has widely publicized that one of the firewalls put in place to prevent the spread of BSE is the prevention of downers from entering the food supply. Our review at the 12 plants visited showed the following variations in application of the policy for condemning or passing nonambulatory cattle for slaughter.

This was the only documentation of the condition of the cattle available at the plants. Plant inspection personnel believed that FSIS Notice 5-04 allowed the slaughter of nonambulatory cattle if the cattle had passed ante mortem inspection and then went down as the result of an acute injury. Therefore, they had allowed the plant to slaughter these cattle for human consumption. We observed use of a forklift and a rail above the pens to transport nonambulatory cattle to the slaughter area.

snip...see full text 130 pages ;

http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/50601-10-KC.pdf

Wednesday, July 9, 2008 10 people killed by new CJD-like disease USA

http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/07/10-people-killed-by-new-cjd-like.html

Thursday, July 10, 2008 A Novel Human Disease with Abnormal Prion Protein Sensitive to Protease update July 10, 2008

http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/07/novel-human-disease-with-abnormal-prion.html

Thursday, July 10, 2008 A New Prionopathy update July 10, 2008

http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/07/new-prionopathy-update-july-10-2008.html

kind regards, terry
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Here is the next big case against the cattle industry from Vermont ,a link.

http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/veal_investigation_110209.html

Not Good and its gut retching.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
And the case goes on!

USDA investigating Vt. slaughterhouse
November 6th, 2009 | Agencies Agriculture | Posted by Rebecca NealcloseAuthor: Rebecca Neal Name: Rebecca Neal
Email: [email protected]
Site:
About: See Authors Posts (127)
The Agriculture Department shut down a Vermont slaughterhouse following the release of a video ( link above on page)of animal abuses allegedly witnessed by a USDA inspector.

In the video, an employee at Bushways Packing Inc. in Grand Isle tries to skin alive a days-old calf in front of an alleged USDA inspector, among other abuses. A Humane Society investigator took the video while employed undercover at the slaughterhouse.

“This government official tells the worker, on hidden camera, that if another USDA inspector saw this, the plant would be shut down, but he allows the abuse to continue,” the Humane Society said in a news release.

Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack called the abuse “deplorable” and “callous.” He said employees are obligated to report noncompliant behavior.
Both USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and inspector general are investigating.
 
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