This is a photograph at the Hallmark/Westland meat packing company in California. This past February the largest meat recall in history was made. The recall comes after the government confirmed that "downer cows", which are cows so injured or sick that they can't stand up, were processed and entered into the nation's food supply. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had to recall 143 million pounds of frozen beef from Hallmark. About 37 million pounds of this recalled beef went to school programs in 36 states, but they believe most of the meat probably has already been eaten. A USDA veterinarian is SUPPOSED to check each downer cow and make sure it is not diseased, but that hasn’t happened.
What is your reaction to hearing this information? Did you know that this had just taken place? Why do you think that contaminated foods would be distributed to the public? What do you think has happened to the regulations that were put in place to keep this sort of thing from happening?
What is your reaction to hearing this information? Did you know that this had just taken place? Why do you think that contaminated foods would be distributed to the public? What do you think has happened to the regulations that were put in place to keep this sort of thing from happening?
5 comments:
Upon hearing this, I was completely disgusted. To be fair, however, I think beef is one of the grossest foods, so I don't think I was as distressed as some of my hardcore meat-eater friends. I think I heard about the recall shortly after it appeared on the news. I really think that for companies producing food en masse it is cheaper to just distribute the possibly tainted food than it is to not ship it. The enforcement of the regulations has probably become so lax that no one really enforces them anymore. Only when something that drastic happens do people actually care about enforcement.
I found this extremely interesting, especially because I have no previous knowledge on the topic at all. It seems to me though, that we are not meeting the needs of the youth in America and something needs to be done to assure the health of these young citizens, is taken care of.
I feel like the main reason this food was distributed to the public is money. Surely, the owners of the Hallmark/Westland meat packing company felt it to be a simple way to make money, and a lot of it, by selling this unhealthy meat. In the business world, money is the only thing that matters, and the meat packing industry is no different.
The only way this could be stopped in the future is by more extensive examinations by the USDA. With the extreme volume of meat entering the food market each year, it is indeed, a very tough proposition to handle, but something must be done, to assure that the food that we eat is healthy.
After reading that I feel sort of disgusted. I don't know about the rest of you but I do not want to eat a cow that can not even move. I did not know that this happened so soon ago. At least someone finally caught on to this awful mistake, but it makes you wonder how often things like this happen. Though I agree that it would be impossible for a veterinarian to check every cow, I do feel like there should be a stricter law to prevent something like this happening again.
I was pretty appalled that USDA did not catch this and especially sooner. I had previously heard about the scandal, call it what you will, and how most of the meat was sent to schools for use in the cafeterias which is really quite sad for anyone to have potentially consumed this meat. I believe mostly this meat recall could have been prevented. Too many times today in this society we are always on the rush and this pertains to every aspect in life and business. For goodness sake, most everything we eat today is processed foods. We can't avoid it so, partly this epidemic I believe can largely be contributed to meat companies hurridly shipping out their meat to fill requests and to make profit. Many business owners today do not focus on what is right and the regulations but instead are more interested in capital gain. Quite possibly, payoffs to the USDA veterinarians could have occurred although I seriously hope this was not the case. Many times, these kind of problems lie in the fact that people do not want to do their jobs and want someone else to do it for them.
I eat a lot of meat, and after reading this I became a little paranoid. It made me rethink how much meat I do eat and the risks I take when consuming it. 143 million pounds of beef recalled is an excessive amount of ruined meat that was distributed to Americans. The USDA should be more aware of what’s going on and stricter regulations should be put into action after this incident. The meat packing company would have lost money either way. It probably went ahead and took its chances and shipped the meat hoping it wouldn’t get caught. Of course when it did, it cost the company much more money. Also, inspectors probably got lazy and didn’t want to check every cow for diseases. No major problems has occurred lately so why would they now? Without the inspectors enforcing the regulations, a “Mass Meat Recall” occurred.
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