Thread: O/T Abused/Sick Cows Being Fed to Our Children

Just another episode in the wave of no enforcement and ignorance on the govenment's part to enforce anything on businesses. It's almost PC to stick one's head in the sand for a politician or an agent of enforcement.

USDA Orders Nation's Largest Beef Recall



Sunday February 17, 9:52 PM EST


LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Sunday ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse, the subject of an animal-abuse investigation, that provided meat to school lunch programs.

Officials said it was the largest beef recall in the United States, surpassing a 1999 ban of 35 million pounds of ready-to-eat meats. No illnesses have been linked to the newly recalled meat, and officials said the health threat was likely small.

The recall will affect beef products dating to Feb. 1, 2006, that came from Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., the federal agency said.

Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said his department has evidence that Westland did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection, violating health regulations.



"Because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection, Food Safety and Inspection Service has determined them to be unfit for human food and the company is conducting a recall," Schafer said in a statement.

A phone message left for Westland president Steve Mendell was not immediately returned.

Federal officials suspended operations at Westland/Hallmark after an undercover video from the Humane Society of the United States surfaced showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts.

Two former employees were charged Friday. Five felony counts of animal cruelty and three misdemeanors were filed against a pen manager. Three misdemeanor counts — illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal — were filed against an employee who worked under that manager. Both were fired.

Authorities said the video showed workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing "downer" animals that were apparently too sick or injured to walk into the slaughterhouse. Some animals had water forced down their throats, San Bernardino County prosecutor Michael Ramos said.

No charges have been filed against Westland, but an investigation by federal authorities continues.

Officials estimate that about 37 million pounds of the recalled beef went to school programs, but they believe most of the meat probably has already been eaten.

"We don't know how much product is out there right now. We don't think there is a health hazard, but we do have to take this action," said Dr. Dick Raymond, USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety.

Most of the beef was sent to distribution centers in bulk packages. The USDA said it will work with distributors to determine how much meat remains.

Federal regulations call for keeping downed cattle out of the food supply because they 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.

About 150 school districts around the nation have stopped using ground beef from Hallmark Meat Packing Co., which is associated with Westland. Two fast-food chains, Jack-In-the-Box and In-N-Out, said they would not use beef from Westland/Hallmark.

Jack in the Box, a San Diego-based company with restaurants in 18 states, told its meat suppliers not to use Hallmark until further notice, but it was unclear whether it had used any Hallmark meat. In-N-Out, an Irvine-based chain, also halted use of the Westland/Hallmark beef. Other chains such as McDonald's and Burger King said they do not buy beef from Westland.

Raymond countered a claim leveled by Humane Society President and CEO Wayne Pacelle, who said a USDA inspector was at the Westland plant for about two hours each day. USDA inspectors are there at slaughterhouses "continuously," Raymond said.

Federal lawmakers on Thursday had called for the Government Accountability Office to investigate the safety of meat in the National School Lunch Program.

Upon learning about the recall, some legislators criticized the USDA, saying the federal agency should conduct more thorough inspections to ensure tainted beef doesn't get to the public.

"Today marks the largest beef recall in U.S. history, and it involves the national school lunch program and other federal food and nutrition programs," said U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. "This begs the question: how much longer will we continue to test our luck with weak enforcement of federal food safety regulations?"

Advocacy groups also weighed in, noting the problems at Westland wouldn't have been revealed had it not been for animal right activists.

"On the one hand, I'm glad that the recall is taking place. On the other, it's somewhat disturbing, given that obviously much of this food has already been eaten," said Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union. "It's really closing the barn door after the cows left."

———

Associated Press writer Jacob Adelman contributed to this report.

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No sympathy for this company who hires illegal aliens, I hope they lose billions!

Just another episode in the wave of no enforcement and ignorance on the govenment's part to enforce anything on businesses. It's almost PC to stick one's head in the sand for a politician or an agent of enforcement.

Big business has found every loophole in the book to exploit and "their word against ours" to enforce...on so many things. Ya...supposidly it's the LAW....but there are countless times it's your job or do it and shut up. Right down to things like being a few cents off in your register and being charged with theft. I have seen such insane things and it's always sides with the employer. Silly things like not being allowed to operate a box crusher if you're under 18. Yet they hire a crew of 16 and 17 yr. olds. Has to be done....they get screamed at and accused of not doing their job...so they use the box crusher. Fine until they need to cut hours and fire people and then suddenly your in trouble for breaking the law. Not the employer....you....because there's a huge warning sign that says no one under 18 allowed to operate machinery. Don't do it and loose your job, do it and loose your job.....parents telling you this is the work world....this is life...obey the boss....ACLU ain't around and you or your parents don't have the legal funds to fight it. The store videos "disappear" to prove your point...you can't have a cell phone with you to prove your case...you're co-workers aren't risking their jobs for you....so it's you alone against the BB. Just another "disgruntled" employee.

Granted there those who don't care....it's just the selectiveness and inconsistancy and when where and how many of these "rules" will be selectively enforced.

I educated myself and what I found out about animal processing put me off my chicken feed! You can read Fast Food Nation and countless other books which give the facts and not just "vegetarian" hype as they have been portrayed. I have actual photographs secretly taken by activists at processing plants that would curdle your blood. My grandmother had a farm and they took good care of their cows. When they got old, they shot them in the head. I was actually okay with that, but the method for slaughtering the rabbits was sickening. At any rate, I think a limited amount of animal meat won't kill you, and if brought up humanely on local farms it's a win-win situation for both sides. But factory farming?? Might as well talk about a disease-riddled holocaust. Please educate yourselves if you haven't already for your children's sake. What you don't know CAN hurt you.
Also, the type of people who are attracted to these positions may have, to put it mildly, anger-management issues and many go on to devaluing human life to the level they are rewarded for devaluing other animals. I say this even though one of the most decent guys I met worked at a meat-packing plant, and he would tell you the same thing.
It is interesting that all the "updates" removed the part where Sanchez said he did it because he was illegal and afraid to speak up.

Originally Posted by crazybird

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I did it because they ordered me to. I obeyed them; if not, I lost my job," Sanchez said in Spanish. "I knew it was illegal but they obliged me to do it." Sanchez said he is an undocumented immigrant (ILLEGAL ALIEN) from Mexico and that he worked at Hallmark for six years before he was fired last month. He is not represented by an attorney

Which is why I say big business suddenly "needs" these people......Americans will usually walk if they know they are being told to do something illegal or atleast cause a stink and bring it to light. They have been firing people who they even think might rock the boat for nothing and the word gets out......people don't have the money to fight a big company and the ACLU isn't there with free legal help for all the infractions.

Gee, I guess those feelings I had were dead on. This is disgusting on too many levels.

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Disparate Federal Rules in Spotlight
Critics Cite Mixed Messages Over Risk From Downer Cows

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 9, 2008; A04



Although the Agriculture Department prohibits the use of beef from "downer" cattle in federally funded school lunches, the agency sometimes allows the meat in the general food supply, a disparity that critics say undercuts officials' contention that there is no food safety reason to ban meat from all cows too sick or injured to stand.

The tougher standard also raises questions about why a major supplier to the school lunch program was processing downers when it was found in January to be treating them inhumanely.

Federal officials ordered recall of 143 million pounds of beef processed by Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino, Calif. -- including 37 million pounds that had gone to public nutrition programs. It was the largest such recall in U.S. history. No illnesses have been tied to the meat.

Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, which sent a worker undercover to videotape mistreatment at the plant, said the disparate standards for school lunch meat and commercial beef make no sense.

"It's grounded on hypocrisy in that we are forbidding beef from downer cows for 30 million school children, but we're allowing downer cows to be fed to those same kids when they are home, as well as to 270 million other Americans," said Pacelle, whose group favors a prohibition on all downer meat. "It's an entirely inconsistent policy."

The USDA adopted the ban for federal food and nutrition programs in 2000. Technical specifications for USDA suppliers routinely include the line, "Meat from carcasses of non-ambulatory disabled cattle will not be included in USDA purchased ground beef products."

In contrast, regulations allow a government veterinarian to approve for slaughter for human consumption an animal that passed initial inspection but went down before reaching the "knock box," if the second inspection determines that the animal was not sick and merely had an injury such as a broken leg.

"There really is no inconsistency," Keith Williams, a USDA spokesman, said. "Federal purchase requirements exclude meat from non-ambulatory animals based on animal welfare considerations, not food safety concerns."

He said the department adopted the requirement to ensure good animal-handling practices in response to feedback from school lunch operators that the welfare of the animals was an emerging concern.

In recent years, however, the department also has cited the no-downer policy as part of its effort to ensure food safety. A fact sheet on mad cow disease posted on the USDA's Web site poses the question, "Are meats used in the National School Lunch Program safe?" It answers, in part, by noting that USDA standards "specifically prohibit the use of meat from downer animals."

Concerns about downer cattle and the safety of U.S.-produced beef rose dramatically after the 2003 discovery that a slaughtered downer cow in Washington state was infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. At least 44 countries subsequently closed their borders to U.S. beef for varying periods.

Mad cow disease is extremely rare in the United States, but of 15 documented cases in North America, most in Canada, the majority have been traced to downer cattle.

Another concern is that such animals may have been lying in feces, raising the risk of contamination by E. coli and salmonella bacteria.

In January 2004, then-Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced a ban on meat from all downer cattle, a measure seen as helping to restore confidence in U.S.-produced beef. But documents show that on Jan. 12, 2004, the same day an interim rule codifying the ban was published in the Federal Register, the USDA issued written guidance informing its veterinary medical officers that they could approve downers that pass initial inspection but later suffer an acute injury.

In a January 2006 audit, the department's inspector general criticized that exception as "inconsistent with both published regulations and public policy announcements." Moreover, the IG found that inspectors were not enforcing even the lesser standard. Reviews of 12 plants revealed that 20 of 29 downers slaughtered for food had no accompanying documentation of an acute injury, the audit found.

The USDA codified the downer exception in a final rule issued on July 13, 2007.

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), chairman of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, last month called on the USDA to ban all downers from the food supply. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer rejected that idea as unnecessary.

"I'm convinced that the rules in place are such that we're protecting the food supply," Schafer testified before the subcommittee.

As to why the California plant was processing downers at all, Williams said the USDA's beef suppliers also sell to the commercial market. They are required to have a plan to segregate downer meat from meat going to school lunches, he said, but Westland/Hallmark failed to follow the agency's protocols.

The beef industry and key members of the Agriculture committees on Capitol Hill have fiercely resisted an outright ban on downers, a position Pacelle says is self-defeating. Fewer than 500,000 of the 35 million cattle slaughtered annually in the United States are downers, he said.

"The industry lost billions of dollars because of the mad cow case in 2003 because we had this permissive policy with downers," Pacelle said. "I am absolutely confounded as to why the industry is prepared to assume this level of risk for the very minimal financial return from slaughtering downers."


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Man charged in Chino slaughterhouse abuse gets six months in jail
Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 03/22/2008 11:15:36 AM PDT


CHINO, Calif. -- One of two men caught on videotape apparently abusing cattle at a Chino slaughterhouse has been sentenced to six months in jail.

Rafael Sanchez Herrera pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of animal abuse in San Bernardino County Superior Court on Friday.

Under the plea deal, the 34-year-old Sanchez will be deported to his native Mexico after serving jail time.

A conviction on the three charges might have meant three years in jail.

The video shows Herrera and other workers at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company dragging sick cows with metal chains and forklifts, shocking them with electric prods and shooting streams of water in their nose and faces.

It led to the largest beef recall in U.S. history.

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