Largest Beef Recall In US History

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I was watching the news very late at night and it mentioned about one of the biggest beef recalls in US history..some 143 million pounds of beef, and it's all due to cattle at a "factory farm" type environment, known as Hallmark/Westland Meat Packaging company and the beef processed there is beef from 2006 to just this year. Most of the cattle slaughtered are what is known as "downed" cattle, which technically speaking is cattle that should never be slaughtered for human consumption as there are serious health hazards in that the cattle may have mad cow disease among many other possible health risks. An investigative undercover video by the Humane Society shows how downed cattle are prodded repeatedly to force them up on their feet so they don't appear as "downed" cattle...if that doesn't work they simply use forklifts to lift the cattle on their way to slaughter. The real alarming fact is that this "potentially" diseased meat is processed and most of it is the frozen hamburgers supplied in the school systems...this meat is shipped to about 37 states nationwide Here's an article about this WASHINGTON (AFP) — US officials said there was only a "remote" chance of adverse health effects from beef in a massive recall as a probe continued Monday into a meat packing firm accused of multiple health violations. A top US Department of Agriculture official downplayed the public health risk the USDA revealed Sunday in announcing that a California company had voluntarily recalled about 143 million pounds (65 million kilos) of suspect beef. The largest meat recall in US history came amid a federal investigation into Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company's slaughter of cattle which had been abused with electric prods, beaten and forklifted into standing up to pass inspection. "We think the food supply is safe," said Kenneth Petersen, the assistant administrator for field operations for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the USDA. "But we think this recall is important and we think it's important for parents to know that the schools are taking action to put those products on hold," he said in a CNN television interview. Richard Raymond, undersecretary for food safety, said officials believed "there is a remote probability that the recalled beef products could cause adverse health effects if consumed." USDA officials said that much of the recalled meat probably already has been eaten. Federal authorities said they did not have solid evidence of illnesses linked to the meat. The recall covers beef produced since February 2006 and distributed nationwide to wholesalers. Hallmark/Westland sold at least 37 million pounds of meat to the national school lunch program and other nutrition programs, including for the poor and the elderly, and for American Indians, run by the USDA during that time, according to officials. Schools in Washington state and California have removed beef from their lunch menus because they suspect it came from Hallmark/Westland. Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at the nonprofit consumers group, said: "Consumers have no way of knowing whether the store from which they've purchased their meat was involved in a recall." The Chino, California-based Hallmark/Westland halted operations in early February after the disclosure last month of a video secretly taped by the Humane Society of the United States in October and November. The video includes scenes of a Hallmark/Westland plant worker poking an electric prod into the eye of a fallen cow and a worker running a forklift's wheels over a cow's face and legs. "I've never heard a cow scream like that before," the voice of the unidentified narrator says. Officials said that an ongoing investigation has shown that the plant violated USDA rules regarding the treatment of so-called "downer" cattle -- animals that arrive at the slaughter plant but cannot stand up because of an illness or injury. Following the discovery of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), in the US in 2003, the USDA forbade the slaughter of downer cattle to reduce the chance of BSE entering the human food chain. Those rules were relaxed slightly last year to allow USDA veterinarians to determine on a case-by-case basis the reason why a downer cow could not stand. Ill or diseased animals must be condemned under USDA regulations. Petersen said that Hallmark/Westland had failed to alert FSIS that cattle had fallen down after an FSIS inspector had found them healthy for slaughter, a "serious violation of regulations and that's really what led to the recall." "And because we inspected these animals first and then they went down, that is not at all typical of an animal that would be exhibiting clinical signs. So that's why we think this is the Class II recall, a remote probability," he said. The National Beef Cattlemen's Association said the recall was happening "out of an abundance of caution." "We can say with confidence that the beef supply is safe," the industry group said. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gIvJhHhMGMiZHb0usNdVZEtBFKEg Gee, I love that last line...that the beef supply is safe..oh, so why the recall? Here's also a link to the Humane Society itself that shows that video and a petition one can sign https://community.hsus.org/campaign/CA_2008_investigation?rk=K72IzAsqQcklE I don't know about you but I'm getting a bit fed up with all these recalls of food, but more importantly how animals are treated for slaughter...and it all boils down to one thing...the almighty dollar and how much profit these meat factories can get, not giving a shat about how the animals they have for animal consumption are taken care of or treated.