Not So Happy California Cows

The largest beef recall in the nations history occurred on Sunday when the U.S. Department of Agriculture recalled 143 million pounds of beef from a Southern California slaughter plant.

An investigation set forth by the Humane Society of the United States uncovered the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company tormenting crippled cows. Furthermore, there is evidence citing that the company did not contact Food Safety and Inspection Services public health veterinarians in situations in which cattle became non-ambulatory, which is not compliant with FSIS regulations.

The recall came after Hallmark/Westland was found to allow these "downer cattle" to enter the food supply. Non-ambulatory livestock are those with broken appendages, severed tendons or ligaments, nerve paralysis, fractured vertebral columns, or metabolic conditions.

When an animal that is ambulatory has passed inspection before being put down and then becomes disabled, it must be reexamined. If it is found to have an acute injury, it then would be eligible for processing. If the disposition was found to be chronic, then the animal would be condemned and unfit for food.

"Animals that go down or suffer an acute injury are slaughtered separately and receive careful examination and inspection by the FSIS veterinarian," said Dr. Dick Raymond, under secretary for Food Safety. "In these cases the public health veterinarian did not have that option to make those decisions."

The destination of the products from this plant have spurred an even greater response to the recall. The National School Lunch Program, the Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations were all recipients of Hallmark/Westland beef. All beef products distributed, including raw, fresh and frozen, were recalled.
"We have about 37 million pounds of this product that have gone to the School Lunch Program and other domestic nutrition programs," said Ron Vogel with Food Nutrition Services.

The USDA contends though that the risk to your childrens health is negligible. "USDAs Agricultural Marketing Services (AMS) had every production lot of ground beef tested by independent laboratories for certain pathogens and indicator organisms," said the USDA in a release. "Those lots that have positive findings for E.coli 0157:H7 or Salmonella are prohibited from Federal food and nutrition programs. AMS did have one positive result and this product was removed from the AMS supply chain and not delivered to any Federal food supply and nutrition program."

Humane Society President & CEO Wayne Pacelle is calling for more stringent laws though. "A recall of this staggering scale shows its bad for animals, bad for the consumers, and bad for business to have slipshod enforcement and porous laws when it comes to handling animals at slaughter plants," Pacelle said.

After being provided videotaped evidence, San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos on Friday charged one of the plants employees with five felony counts under Californias anti-cruelty statute and three misdemeanor counts for abusing downed animals. Two more employees are now facing criminal charges as well.

In order to resume operations, which have been shut down indefinitely, Hallmark/Westland must respond to their Notice of Suspension and submit a corrective action plan to address its failure to properly implement the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and FSIS regulations. Hallmark/Westside has yet to submit a response to their notice.

"The United States enjoys one of the safest food supplies in the world. To ensure the safety of the food supply, we implement a series of safeguards to protect against food borne disease," said Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer in a statement. "I am dismayed at the in-humane handling of cattle that has resulted in the violation of food safety regulations."