Can We Believe USDA?

USDA Caught In Major Contradiction Over  Possibly Contaminated Meat.

by

Sheila Totten

First it was N.A.I.S. and the need for registering premises and chipping all livestock that  USDA claimed we needed to protect us from everything  from Mad Cow Disease to terrorist  biochemical hazards aimed at livestock.Then the information surfaced that the director had a big interest in one of the chip manufacturing companies and  even had a micro-chip implanted in himself. Pushing for N.A.I.S. came at a time sales were down due to "lazy "chips.   Now USDA  is contradicting itself about the  danger in the ground beef that came from the downer cattle  slaughtered  at  Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company in Southern California.

When USDA issued the recall for 143 million pounds of beef from  the  California slaughter  house  the actual  recall had nothing to do with cruelty to animals charges but rather the violation of the laws set up to protect everyone from Mad Cow Disease ; those final  laws having been set by FSIS went into effect on July 13,2007.FSIS is the arm of the government  which is responsible for making sure  the commercial meat,egg and poultry products are safe for human consumption.  Yes,the plant has received a suspension from FSIS and USDA because of the inhumane treatment of the downer cattle but  it is the inherent health danger that has caused the recall.  During the BSE scare several years ago  they passed an ordinance prohibiting  the sale of "downer" cattle  at sale barns and prohibiting the slaughter  and use of said animals for human consumption and also for use in livestock feeds. Now USDA is saying that it is okay for   school children and other consumers to use that beef as long as it is mixed with beef from healthy cows.This is not only ridiculous but a travesty of justice.

What are they thinking? If even one person gets sick from this  beef then who gets the blame? Maybe USDA will say it came from the non- downer beef mixed in and use this as an excuse  to make N.A.I.S. mandatory. Okay,this tells everyone how much I trust USDA  ever since the NAIS business.

According to  the Wall Street Journal USDA published this decision in a memo which they quoted as thus:

"If a processor or grinder has records demonstrating that products were produced using less than 100% of recalled Westland meat for the meat component, then there is no need...to retrieve that 'commingled' product."
 

Does this make any sense?On one hand the meat from the downer cattle  is so dangerous that no one should eat it but it is safe if mixed with beef from other cattle.Come on USDA,stick to one side of this.Beef from downer cattle is suspect not only for mad cow disease but possible e coli., salmonella and several diseases.Why would you allow people to consume it? Between  this USDA fiasco and the toxic FEMA trailers what is our government  doing? How many incompetents do we have in places of trust?To endanger the lives of our people with toxic trailers and then to try and  cover that up was bad enough.Now USDA does this!

USDA actually issued a statement  that  a mix of 99% of the meat from downer cattle can be used as long as one percent  of the beef  from healthy cattle is mixed in with this. All USDA is doing is  trying to prevent monetary  losses for the beef industry irregardless of safety. To make matters worse much of this meat has gone out to schools, to reservations  and to  the Federal Food Assistance Program.   I think the CDC needs to step in just as they did with FEMA. We cannot allow this unsafe  practice to continue. Lives are at stake.

Even if a cow is down because  of a broken leg,infection sets in quickly in ruminants and there is a good chance that meat cooled from that cow could  go bad.I have seen it locally in private processing plants when downer cows due to fractures  have been brought in for slaughter and processing by their owners.After being hung  for a week that meat begins to get slimey and bubbly.Downer cattle  are a danger to all of us and we have to wonder if yet again someone in USDA would lose money if this beef   was pulled from the market and destroyed.