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Recall hurts trade talks

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Ag chief says trade talks hurt by beef recall



MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said Friday that the nation's largest beef recall has set back negotiations to ship U.S. beef to Japan and South Korea.

Those markets closed to the U.S. cattle industry in 2003 after a scare over mad cow disease.

Schafer said at a convention of meat packers and processors that he is hopeful trade talks will continue but that the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. recall has diplomats asking why the U.S. can't ship safe meat.

The USDA recalled 143 million pounds of beef from the Chino-based slaughterhouse after the U.S. Humane Society released undercover video that showed slaughterhouse workers there kicking and shoving sick and crippled cows and forcing them to stand with electric prods, forklifts and water hoses.

Downer cows, or those too sickly to stand, are banned from the food supply because they carry a higher risk of mad cow disease and other illnesses.

Schafer also said Friday he is not in favor of making any immediate changes to meat inspection regulations due to of the recall.

He said that one individual had an incentive to break the rules but that the USDA meat inspection system is not broken. He said he would wait for an investigation into the recall to be completed before make any policy change recommendations.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
He said that one individual had an incentive to break the rules but that the USDA meat inspection system is not broken. He said he would wait for an investigation into the recall to be completed before make any policy change recommendations.

If it took them 16 months to get an inconclusive report on the California lettuce- we can probably figure it will be about 2010 before they can figure this one out- and 10 years before they can figure out what to do .... :shock: :roll: :wink: :(

But apparently from their past actions and Creekstone rulings they don't think opening export markets are very important anyway- as long as their elite buddy multinationals have other countries they can profiteer with by getting those markets...... :( :mad:

Too bad this USDA forgot the US in their name... :mad:
 

PORKER

Well-known member
We can probably figure it will be about 2010 before they can figure this one out- and 10 years before they can figure out what to do ....Oldtimer Quote.

You can see why Mr. Munsell wants a 3 second TRACEBACK of records, You can see why the packers don't want any traceback, it just might report that employee 1262 didn't do his job right .
 

mrj

Well-known member
Porker, do you really believe business owners don't want to know about it when an employees are not performing a job correctly? That doesn't make business sense, does it?

mrj
 
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Anonymous

Guest
mrj said:
Porker, do you really believe business owners don't want to know about it when an employees are not performing a job correctly? That doesn't make business sense, does it?

mrj

It does when that screwup could make them/show liablity for multi-millions $ of lawsuits/recall costs like is now happening in California.....
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Today: The House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee holds a hearing on food safety accountability. Steven Mendell, president of Chino's Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., has been asked to testify.

Mendell refused to appear- and according to the nightly news will be subpoenaed....Sounds like Congress is ripping the USDA/FDA a new rear end- on all the tainted products, recalls, and failure to inspect foreign food plants....One Congressman commented that at the speed they are inspecting all the plants that it would take 340 years before some food plants are even inspected once..... :roll:

Looks like they are going after the Humane folks too...


Food Safety
Humane Society grilled on not advising USDA about Hallmark

By Janie Gabbett on 2/26/2008 for Meatingplace.com




WASHINGTON — Congressmen repeatedly questioned a representative of the Humane Society of the United States on Tuesday about why the group did not immediately inform USDA of video evidence workers were abusing downed cattle at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co.

At a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on food safety, Michael Greger, HSUS director of public health and animal agriculture, said the San Bernardino District Attorney's office asked the group to hold the information until it completed its own investigation. The congressmen, however, said HSUS could have discretely gone to USDA earlier than it did.

Greger hinted at more HSUS exposes, telling the committee the videographer's identity must be guarded so as not to compromise current and future investigations. The Hallmark/Westland video, which was shown at the hearing, resulted in the nation's largest beef recall. (See Hallmark/Westland recalls 143 million lbs of beef — largest in history on Meatingplace.com, Feb. 18, 2008.)

Hallmark/Westland President Steve Mendell did not attend the hearing, declining the committee's request for him to testify. Committee members said they are looking at compelling him to come before the committee sometime in the future.

Greger told the committee that Hallmark workers said in criminal testimony in California that they were pressured by supervisors to get the cows up and into slaughter. Hallmark slaughtered mostly spent dairy cattle, often fatigued after being trucked in from surrounding states.

Members of the subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), used the hearing as an opportunity to renew calls for: banning all meat from downer cattle from the food supply, mandatory traceability standards, mandatory recall authority for USDA and the Food and Drug Administration and the creation of a single food safety agency.

William Marler, a Seattle lawyer who represents victims of foodborne illnesses, however, suggested USDA might have actually gone too far with the Hallmark recall.

"Although stunned by the video …I am more stunned that the recall has ballooned to 143 million pounds of meat and is quickly encompassing products that might contain trace amounts of the meat. No people have been sickened. I wonder if resources are better spent elsewhere," he testified before the committee.
 

Bill

Well-known member
Members of the subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), used the hearing as an opportunity to renew calls for: banning all meat from downer cattle from the food supply, mandatory traceability standards, mandatory recall authority for USDA and the Food and Drug Administration and the creation of a single food safety agency.

When do you think they will finally ban downers from the food supply in the US?
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Bill said:
Members of the subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), used the hearing as an opportunity to renew calls for: banning all meat from downer cattle from the food supply, mandatory traceability standards, mandatory recall authority for USDA and the Food and Drug Administration and the creation of a single food safety agency.

When do you think they will finally ban downers from the food supply in the US?

Hard telling but I watched the Food Safety Committee Congressional hearings tonite- and they are really up in arms over this and all the food recall problems- altho one of the problems they have is they have no control over USDA which falls under the Ag Committee :roll: ....

Since USDA rolled back their rules (about the same time they reopened the Canadian border) downer cattle were again allowed to be slaughtered- but are not allowed to be slaughtered for the school lunch program...

One of the folks testifying was the attorney from the Humane Society- and he cleared up a few facts....#1 was that there was (and it is required by law) that an inspector be at the Packing plants at all time...These are line inspectors overseeing the slaughter and checking the carcass's...And they have another inspector that due to USDA manpower shortages does not stay at the plant, but shows up at the same time of day for the live cattle inspecting- inspects that shifts cattle in the pens- then leaves to another facility-shows up again later- again inspects the next shifts kill and leaves...These "downer" cattle- were inspected by the "on-line" inspector....

This attorney made it quite clear that the reason they went to the District Attorney first and not the USDA is because they have went to the USDA numerous times in the past- and got little assistance/action from them...(Sounds like the same-o in bed with the Packers BS we've seen for years :roll: )

I know one thing I'll never eat again after watching these hearings is imported shrimp/fish...Testimony was that any shrimp/fish products from Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan, etc. etc. that couldn't meet European Union or UK testing (they test over 25% of their imports- and most Asian products can't meet their chemical and biological standards) was just put back on a boat and shipped to the US (we test less than 1% of our imports)- and then the importers even go port shopping, which is taking them to ports with less testing facilities/personell so they have a better chance of running them thru without testing...Some when caught have even then just took the product to another port- where it got in... :shock: :roll: :(

And over 20% of this imported shrimp (that was bagged in CO2 to prevent discoloration) was actually rotten....The committee and all those testifying also expressed their displeasure at marketers/packers being allowed to use CO2 to cover up rotten food....

Too bad this committee doesn't have direct control over USDA's food oversight-- but that might change- as it was pretty much the consensus that many of the lengthy delays in these food recalls/outbreaks of disease- is because of infighting between and a failure of FDA-USDA-CDC- state and local authorities to work together-- and that the food safety issue needs to be taken away from both USDA and FDA- and put into one food safety Agency.....Several of the Congressman noted that they would now back Rep. DeLauro's legislation to make a combined food safety
agency....
 

PORKER

Well-known member
Members of the subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), used the hearing as an opportunity to renew calls for: banning all meat from downer cattle from the food supply, mandatory traceability standards, mandatory recall authority for USDA and the Food and Drug Administration and the creation of a single food safety agency.

He is My CONGRESSMAN and being that he was a former State Trooper in Michigan ,he doesn't take crap from anybody! I got him to read Ranchers.net .
 

PORKER

Well-known member
February 26, 2008

The Honorable Ed Schafer

Secretary of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Agriculture

1400 Independence Ave., S.W.

Washington, DC 20250

Dear Secretary Schafer:

Yesterday, several weeks after your department issued an administrative hold and several days after the USDA issued a recall on beef from a California packing plant, the State of New Jersey announced that more than 170 school districts have received the recalled meat products in question. It is presumed that New Jersey children have consumed the beef.

From the inspection standpoint, there are a number of issues about which I have grave concern. Primarily, I am very troubled that the inspection process itself did not catch the problems in this plant and that it took the undercover video of animal rights activists to expose extensive and pervasive violations. I worry that this plant is only the tip of the iceberg and that these violations are manifestations of an inspector shortage and inadequate oversight that leave consumers extremely vulnerable to salmonella, E. coli, and other bacteria.

I am also concerned about the slow pace of public communication about this matter. The administrative hold you placed on the beef in question was made on January 30. While it was reported in the press and communications were made to schools, the seriousness of the problem did not really get wide attention until the beef recall was issued on February 17. Many did not realize that New Jersey's children were served this beef in schools for almost a month after the initial exposure of the plant violations. Children are among the most vulnerable groups to the affects of food poisoning, and therefore, any delay in notifying schools about a meat recall is troubling. New Jersey parents undoubtedly share these same concerns.

I ask that you immediately provide answers to the following questions:

* What is the normal inspection process for meat from a plant such as the one in question?

* Why was it not discovered in time to prevent the need for the nation's largest-ever beef recall?

* Are you satisfied with the inspection procedure for this particular plant and are you satisfied with USDA food inspection procedures across the board?

* How does the USDA determine whether an administrative hold should become a recall?

* How does the communications chain work so that states, consumers, grocers, and food purveyors know when potentially tainted food has reached their doors?

* In New Jersey, why was the public not made more aware of the potentially tainted beef at the schools until nearly a month after your initial recall?

* How can we better educate people about the difference between a hold and a recall?

* Do food processing plants have any requirements to continually track where their meat is sold and served? Would such a requirement have quickened the pace of notification in this process?

It seems to me that there are serious flaws all along the food inspection chain - from the professionals who should have caught the violations at this plant before such a large-scale recall to the officials in charge of notifying the public about local deliveries of the beef. I am relying on your answers to confirm that notion or inform me otherwise, so that we can best help prevent future food safety issues like this one. I thank you in advance for your response.

Sincerely,

ROBERT MENENDEZ

United States Senator.

February 27, 2008
 
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