Meatpacker used `downer' cows for school lunch program

If this has been posted before please forgive the mistake. But this is just WRONG.
Here is part of what the article says.....

"— A Southern California meatpacking plant that supplied beef to the nation's school lunch program slaughtered stumbling, potentially contaminated cows for four years before undercover video of animal abuse prompted a massive beef recall, federal court filings say.

The amended complaint filed late last month in U.S. District Court in Riverside is part of an ongoing civil lawsuit filed by The Humane Society of the United States against the Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.

The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the case with the new complaint after months of additional research and interviews that uncovered the startling new allegations against the now-defunct packing plant. Among them, the company failed to disclose that one of its partners had two felony convictions related to illegal industry practices."

and goes on to say.....

"The video sparked the largest beef recall in U.S. history. Officials estimated at the time that 37 million pounds of the 143 million pounds of recalled beef went to school lunch programs, and most of the meat had already been eaten."



For me this is just wrong on so many levels. It's horrible for the animals, who were sick and suffering at the time and it's horrible for the children who ate it. Just imagine your kids or their friends could have consumed it. All to make a buck.....they say money makes the world go 'round, I think that saying fits perfectly in this situation. Just disgusting! How do you ATSers feel about this?


Here is the link.....
www.google.com...

[edit on 28-9-2009 by freeyourmind1111]

Thank President Clinton and HACCP for this.

In 1995 Clinton ratified the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agriculture. The Corporate Cartel Men that Clinton put in the USDA and FDA immediately replaced our tried and true food safety regs with the corporate cartels international regs. called HACCP and "risk assessment"

Food Safety has declined since HACCP was instituted. The results have been two Congressional investigations., but instead of arrests and reversion back to "precautionary principle" regs the blame has been shifted to innocent farmers who are to be about to be regulated out of existance.

Why would the USDA willfully ignore a whistleblower and stand by as feces-tainted meat entered grocery stores? Two decades of federal reforms have left more and more regulation in the hands of the meat industry itself. "Agribusiness runs the show" at the USDA, says Tony Corbo, a food-safety lobbyist with the watchdog group Public Citizen. www.motherjones.com...

"USDA is moving toward supporting fewer labs nationwide, with the remaining labs serving as regional labs and supporting larger geographic areas.

The first-point testing program is the “early warning system” for the brucellosis program, enabling detection of infection prior to sale of cattle within the state. With the discontinuation of first-point testing, slaughter testing will become the primary method for brucellosis surveillance." Texas Animal Health Commission www.tahc.state.tx.us... (Note: the information on this site keeps changing since I copied these words)

But do not worry Obama and the democrats in Congress will protect you by driving independent and organic farmers out of business with the new Food Safety Con Job bills

According to John Munsell, Manager, Foundation for Accountability in Regulatory Enforcement (FARE), when USDA “officials initially described HACCP to the industry in the mid-90’s, the agency made the following enticing promises:

* “Under HACCP, the agency will implement a ‘Hands Off’ role in meat inspection.
* “Under HACCP, the agency will no longer police the industry, but the industry will police itself.
* “Under HACCP, the agency will disband its previous command and control authority.
* “Under HACCP, each plant will write its own HACCP Plan, and the agency cannot tell plants what must be in their HACCP Plans.”

As a result, the plant operator was required to identify potential hazards and the critical points in the process where those hazards could come into play. The plan would then identify procedures that would be used to minimize the hazard risk at those control points. The plant would be responsible for the implementation of the plan.

As a result, the inspector was no longer responsible for what was happening on the plant floor: that was left to company personnel. The new role of the inspector was to make sure that plant personnel were carrying out their duties in a manner consistent with the HACCP plan. In many cases this amounted to making sure that all of the paper work was in the proper order.

The efforts of Food inspectors to bring problems with HACCP was ignored by USDA management.

Apr 17, 2008 Testimony:Mr. Stan Painter, Chairman, National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals:
In December 2004 Union president Stan Painter received reports from union member that SRM regulations are not uniformly enforced. Painter writo to the Assistant FSIS Administrator for Field Operation about enforcement problem. USDA responsed by placed Painter on disciplinary investigation status and contacts the USDA Office of Inspector General about filing criminal charges.

"It (the recall of Hallmark/Westland Meat) highlights one of the problems that we have attempted to raise with the agency ever since 1996 when the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) inspection system was put in place. There seems to be too much reliance on an honor system for the industry to police itself. While the USDA investigation is still on going at Hallmark/Westland, a couple of facts have emerged that point to a system that can be gamed by those who want to break the law. It (HACCP) shifted the responsibility for food safety over to the companies . "
December 2004 Freedom of Information Act requests were made by Painter's Union
August 2005 Over 1000 non-compliance reports – weighing some 16 pounds -- were turned over domesticpolicy.oversight.house.gov...

Since then the USDA denied there was any problem and essentially called Painter a liar.

he USDA's aggressive "do not look, do not tell" non-interference policy with ConAgra backfired when it was finally required to recall over 19 million pounds of ground beef and related trim during the summer of 2002. The reason: Laboratory tests confirmed E.coli 0157:H7 -- the same deadly germ that had taken lives and hospitalized many in previous contamination tragedies.

When John Munsell found that the hamburger he ground from ConAgra-provided meat contained the pathogen E.coli, he informed the USDA. Whereupon the Department launched an inspection of his operation, but not the source of the contamination -- ConAgra, and closed Munsell's plant for four months.

USDA's delay in going after ConAgra's Greeley plant resulted in the death of an Ohio woman and sickness for 35 other consumers before ConAgra recalled 19 million pounds of beef. www.nader.org.../archives/158-USDA-vs-John-Munsell.html

Control the food, Control the people - Kissinger

reply to post by crimvelvet

Wow that is a lot of great information you provided. I didn't know about all of this. I haven't read through all the links yet but I am in the process. Thanks for enlightening me to this. Peace.

Where do you think cheap beef comes from? Old, burnt out dairy cows that can't walk and are dragged on to a trailer with a winch.

Common practice for years.....enjoy that Big Mac!


Horse meat is another horror story..............



[edit on 28-9-2009 by Pinktip]

Originally posted by Pinktip
Where do you think cheap beef comes from? Old, burnt out dairy cows that can't walk and are dragged on to a trailer with a winch.

Common practice for years.....enjoy that Big Mac!


Horse meat is another horror story..............



[edit on 28-9-2009 by Pinktip]

I don't think about these type of things that often as I don't eat very much meat, but I would really hope that wouldnt be the case.( although I would be naive to think it dosent happen)
I found this link and it says....

"Wednesday, December 31, 2003
'Downer' cows no longer allowed in food supply
By LEWIS KAMB AND PHUONG CAT LE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
Sweeping new restrictions on slaughterhouse practices to further safeguard American beef -- including an immediate ban on so-called "downer" or sick cows entering the human food supply -- were announced yesterday by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. "
www.cbsnews.com...

and this....


"Release No. 0060.09
Contact:
Amanda Eamich (202) 720-9113"

"WASHINGTON, March 14, 2009 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a final rule to amend the federal meat inspection regulations to require a complete ban on the slaughter of cattle that become non-ambulatory disabled after passing initial inspection by Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) inspection program personnel.The final rule amends the federal meat inspection regulations to require that all cattle that are non-ambulatory disabled ("downer") cattle at any time prior to slaughter at an official establishment, including those that become non-ambulatory disabled after passing ante-mortem inspection, be condemned and properly disposed of according to FSIS regulations. Additionally, the final rule requires that establishments notify inspection program personnel when cattle become non-ambulatory disabled after passing the ante-mortem, or pre-slaughter, inspection. The rule will enhance consumer confidence in the food supply and improve the humane handling of cattle. "

"Under the final rule, cattle that become non-ambulatory disabled from an acute injury after ante-mortem inspection will no longer be eligible to proceed to slaughter as "U.S. Suspects." Instead, FSIS inspectors will tag these cattle as "U.S. Condemned" and prohibit these cattle from proceeding to slaughter."

www.usda.gov...!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2009/03/0060.xml

( if that link dosent work just search " Release No. 0060.09" in the usda website


So I guess people do it but they shouldn't.


[edit on 28-9-2009 by freeyourmind1111]

reply to post by Pinktip

Where do you think cheap beef comes from? Old, burnt out dairy cows that can't walk and are dragged on to a trailer with a winch.

You can than Monsanto and the corporate farms for the serious damage to the milk cows and not the independent farmers trying to fight them. The damage to not only the cows health but to human health from the President Clinton's "new food policies" are truely horrifying when you start digging. Veggies have not escaped the problem either. Natural crops are becoming cross contaminated with GMO

Dr. Mellon said a bigger health risk would occur if genes now being tested to produce pharmaceuticals from crops were to get into seeds for food crops. Her group could not test for such genes because in general their identity is not known. ''If the door to the seed supply is open to contamination,'' she added, ''it is likely that drug genes will be able to pass through it, right to our breakfast tables.''

In a 1998 survey by Family Farm Defenders, it was found that mortality rates for cows on factory dairy farms in Wisconsin, those injecting their herds with rBGH, were running at 40% per year. In other words, after two and a half years of rBGH injections most of these drugged and supercharged cows were dead...

Since rBGH was approved, approximately 40,000 small and medium-sized US dairy farmers, 1/3 of the total in the country, have gone out of business, concentrating milk production in the hands of industrial-sized dairies, most of whom are injecting their cows with this cruel and dangerous drug...

COWS

Seven years ago, Feb. 4, 1994, despite nationwide protests by consumer groups, Monsanto and the FDA forced onto the US market the world's first GE animal drug, recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH, sometimes known as rBST).

BGH is a powerful GE drug produced by Monsanto which, injected into dairy cows, forces them to produce 15%-25% more milk, in the process seriously damaging their health and reproductive capacity.

Despite warnings from scientists, such as Dr. Michael Hansen from the Consumers Union and Dr. Samuel Epstein from the Cancer Prevention Coalition, that milk from rBGH injected cows contains substantially higher amounts of a potent cancer tumor promoter called IGF-1, and despite evidence that rBGH milk contains higher levels of pus, bacteria, and antibiotics, the FDA gave the hormone its seal of approval, with no real pre-market safety testing required.

Moreover, the FDA ruled, in a decision marred by rampant conflict of interest (several key FDA decision makers, including Michael Taylor, previously worked for Monsanto), that rBGH-derived products did not have to be labeled, despite polls showing that 90% of American consumers wanted labeling -- mainly so they could avoid buying rBGH-tainted products.

All of the major criticisms leveled against rBGH have turned out to be true. Since 1994, every industrialized country in the world, except for the US, has banned the drug. www.becomehealthynow.com...

VEGGIES

a German court ordered Monsanto to make public a controversial 90-day rat study on June 20, 2005, the data upheld claims by prominent scientists who said that animals fed the genetically modified (GM) corn developed extensive health effects in the blood, kidneys and liver and that humans eating the corn might be at risk...

Rats fed Mon 863 developed several reactions, including those typically found with allergies (increased basophils), in response to infections, toxins and various diseases including cancer (increased lymphocytes and white blood cells), and in the presence of anemia (decreased reticulocyte count) and blood pressure problems (decreased kidney weights). There were also increased blood sugar levels, kidney inflammation, liver and kidney lesions, and other changes. According to top research biologist Arpad Pusztai, who was commissioned by the German government to evaluate the study in 2004, based on the evidence no one can say that Mon 863 will cause cancer or allergies or anything specific. The results are preliminary and must be followed-up to rule these out. He warns, however, “It is almost impossible to imagine that major lesions in important organs. . . . or changes in blood parameters. . . . that occurred in GM maize-fed rats, is incidental and due to simple biological variability."
www.newswithviews.com...

[edit on 30-9-2009 by crimvelvet]

people are wierd.
if a cow "looks" healthy its ok to eat, even though its probably carrying all kinds of nasties, diseases, and chemicals.
but if a cow "looks" unhealth,y peopel flip teh fkcuk out.
cahnces are your eating all the things you want to not be eating in regualr meat, why all teh outrage?