Meat Roulette
Nauseating as it was, last week’s record-setting beef recall and theapparentfeeding of meat from crippled “downer” cattle to our nation’s children and others should come as little surprise. Although egregious to the point of obscenity, this latest meat scandal fits a pattern of regulatory anemia — the byproduct of a decades-long bipartisan assault on “big government” — that has opened the floodgates to all sorts of contamination shenanigans. The deregulated chickens, cows and pigs have come home to roost.
Prompted by an undercover film from the Humane Society of the United States that shows workers kicking and shocking downer cows — cattle too sick to walk to their own slaughter — the Chino, Calif.-based Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. recalled 143 million pounds of raw and frozen beef. (Stunningly, the government still lacks the legal authority to require food recalls — it can only recommend them).
Coming on the heels of 21 beef recalls in 2007, this latest meat fiasco was followed by predictable and inadequate responses by apologists and critics alike. U.S. Department of Agriculture officials — who, disturbingly, are charged with both promoting and monitoring our food supply — trotted out the standard “don’t worry, eat happy” line, even as they urged a recall. This signaled that our perilous game of meat roulette — a $70-billion-a-year business with phenomenal clout in Washington — would go largely unchallenged. Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society, criticized “the inadequacies of the inspection system. How can so many downers have been mistreated day after day within a USDA oversight system that was present at the plant? We need more boots on the ground at the plants.” Some in Congress are calling for a fuller investigation into regulatory lapses.
Clearly, more boots on the ground are vital. The USDA’s inspection squad has been trimmed by both political parties since the 1970s, plummeting to about 7,800 from 12,000 in 1978. Unannounced inspections have diminished to roughly 15,000 annually from more than 22,000. But merely beefing upregulatory staffing is like affixing a Band-Aid for a hemorrhage. The U.S. food safety crisis — in which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 76 million people get sick each year, of whom 325,000 are hospitalizedand more than 5,000 die — has roots of a more systemic nature.
Despite some recent declines in food-borne illnesses, the longer-term trend has seen soaring rates of salmonella, E. coli and other bacterial contamination since the 1970s (rising from under 20,000 reported salmonella poisonings in 1967 to more than 40,000 a year by the mid-1990s). Meat contamination has proliferated over the past 30 years along with the rise of industrialized feedlots and lightning-fast processing plants run by ever-fewer, ever-larger corporations.
The Hallmark recall must be viewed within the context of meat industry consolidation, which has seen four corporations control 83% of the nation’s beef production, according to the USDA. As the business has consolidated over 20 years, its clout in Washington has grown: witness the meat lobby’s continued successful opposition to universal testing for mad cow disease, its ability to coax regulators to speed up processing lines, and its effectiveness in reducing both the role and number of inspectors.
Both political parties have contaminated meat on their hands. Since rules set forth by the Reagan administration, line speeds for meat and poultry processing have been increased (from 78 chickens a minute to a dizzying 91 birds), threatening the safety of workers and consumers alike. In 1996, the Clinton administration struck a deal with the meat industry: a system that enhanced scientific guidelines for meat inspection while radically diminishing the presence of government inspectors on the production line. In affidavits, inspectors who cite problems have frequently reported being harassed and intimidated into silence by meat industry managers, and routinely relegated to evaluating company paperwork rather than monitoring the line.
Ultimately, what needs fixing goes far beyond recalling 143 million pounds of meat. We need to greatly expand the number and the role of food-safety inspectors; erect a stronger firewall between inspection and promotion, so the agency that sets line speeds and promotes productivity is not also charged with evaluating food safety; give the government full authority to require meat recalls and to identify where tainted meat has been shipped and sold; and slow the production line to enable more accurate inspection and greater care in handling the meat, which would also reduce the high worker injury rates. Finally, the extreme consolidation into a few corporate hands must be checked, to break the meat industry’s stranglehold on regulatory policy.
It’s time to put the health and well-being of America’s eaters, animals and food industry workers ahead of meat corporations’ desire for maximum profits and control.
Christopher D. Cook is the author of “Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis.” Website: christopherdcook.com
Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times
In risk of repeating myself:
“The last thing our feckless FDA and Dept of Agrivulture wants promoted is the education of the food buying public.
Their corporate masters would be displeased.”
The corporations surely approve a record voluntary recall of meat already paid for and eaten, that’s the kind of protection corporations need and proves that our regulatory system is working, for the corporations that is.
After seeing over the last few years of how these creatures are treated, (and how our “food” is “made” and how it impacts the environment), I’ve simply quit eating meat, period. I now pay less to eat and I don’t impose cruelty upon other living creature. And I’m NOT eating god-know-what’s-in-it meat.
Its really gross.
Just don’t eat it.
This last recall is yet one more reason to give up meat and start trying to grow as much of your own food as possible — when it comes from your own backyard, you know how it was produced.
Thanks, Christopher, for another great article on the mess that is our current food industry.
think about how better off the world would be if we all went vegetarian.
From Gail Eisnitz’s Slaughterhouse, quoting a FDA inspector.
First we washed the shit off the meat.
Then we scraped the shit off the meat.
Now the consumer eats the shit off the meat.
Enjoy
or go vegan.
Thaks, Christopher, for making a lot of alresdy concerned people totally paranoid, as if that is doing a service to our country. We will have the meat industry as long as we have people, so your scare talk is no help to anyone, as the problem has to be handled through regulation, not veganism.
Great job Christopher. Don’t agree we would be better off if we were vegetarian: spinach recall from last year springs to mind BUT buying locally from producers you know sure would help. 100 mile diet is not a bad philosophy even if you have to modify for things like coffee and chocolate. Join a local CSA (consumer supported agriculture). There are lots of things we can do to know our food! dlz
So what has our corporate controlled congress done to we the people and the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act? Teddy would be outraged!
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/history2.html
The meat industry is an embarrassment but the agricultural behemoths are also destroying our vegetables and grain with genetically modified seeds, pesticides, insecticides and the crushing of the small, independent farmer. It is easy to say, “buy organic” but for the majority of cash strapped Americans, this is not a viable option.
Aaaaah kernel, the swiftboating, military-industrial, corporate lackey is heard from.
Zubsin–The spinach in the recall was contaminated by run-off from a cattle operation. Thus, if there were no demand for meat, there wouldn’t be such contamination. I wish people would quit thinking of excuses to eat meat. It’s like they feel entitled, since “it’s always been that way.” It doesn’t have to be. We progressives especially should realize it’s totally unnecessary to support such cruelty.
If they want corporations, lets give them corporations—We the People Inc. We’ll take our equal shares of non-transferable stock certificates and dividends from the public treasure up front and we’ll only deal with ethical corporations. We’ll kick out the politicians and hire and fire our corporate management in yearly stockholders meetings live, online, by phone or by mail-in vote.
curmudgeon99, agreed; kernal, go back to the ‘rush limbaugh’ post where you belong.
as to the article, i though it was very informative. You would think that over thirty years the food safety inspectors numbers would have gone up, in preportion to the population and numbers of “rendered” animals. But no surprise here really, just one more example of how the CorpoFascist takeover is nearing endgame. 7,800 inspectors for the entire us meat supply!! what a joke! And Chris is right on about the conflict of interest that the USDA should look at, and correct. Promotion and Regulation are like oil and water, it just doesnt mix.
Regulation, aka “Waiting for Big Brother to Make Your Choices for You,” easily resolves the American individual from needing to know anything. Are we really so intellectually challenged that we cannot see the disaster that is industrial agriculture?
It’s not meat versus veggies, it’s factory-produced versus wholesomely-grown food. Eating vegan won’t protect you from GMOs, pesticides, and unnatural chemicals in your food.
Factory meat, factory vegetables, bad. Naturally/traditionally grown good good. Read Real Food: What To Eat and Why.
If you can’t see some connections between where our food comes from, and the indifference to the suffering of of other beings—animal and human, then no amount of logical argument can reach you.
No cows=no cows to suffer=more trees, less pasture=more clean water=less greenhouse methane=healthier humans=less medical expense=people with enough energy to say “no more”.
I’m with blessthebeasts here. Look at the larger economic, environmental, cultural, material, and moral landscape and meat eating becomes nothing less than an outrage. I don’t know what 143 million pounds of meat means in terms of numbers of animals (notice how no reports quantify the “cost” in this way — animals as commodity only ever), but it is surely a very large number; roughly 8 billion animals are slaughtered every year.
What does happen to the “waste” of 143 million pounds? Where does it go?
And I don’t buy the whole local/natural killing of animals either –what justifies the killing of the animal no matter how it is raised? This is an article which demands a reconsideration of the lives of animals and why humans are willing to justify such absolute brutality; without it, it is no real critique of the structures of profit, control, captitalism.
I am most frustrated by those whose flippant desire for the status quo (I like meat and I’ll never stop eating it) defeats progressive action.
First up - I love american beef, definitely the tastiest I have ever had and I’m not going to stop eating it.
Having said that…
…we had a problem in the UK a couple of years back with meat from cattle that couldn’t walk entering the food chain. The animals turned out to have mad cow disease, a.k.a. BSE. The good news is that, a decade later, it looks like the resulting human epidemic that we were worried about hasn’t materialised. Its also reassuring that you have seen far fewer cattle diagnosed with BSE in the USA.
It may not be common knowledge in the USA but several countries in Europe successfully covered up the extent of BSE infected cattle entering their food chains. I once heard the following presented at a scientific conference on BSE at the Royal Society in London (our antique equivalent of the National Academy of Sciences): If you multiply the number of cattle exported live to France from the UK during our peak in BSE by the fraction of UK cattle that were infected you get a number of infected cows that we pretty much *know* eventually entered the French food chain (and there may have been others) that is orders of magnitude greater than the number of officially acknowledged cases of BSE in France. There were whisperings (in our admitedly pretty anti-French press) of cover-ups and pressure being applied on French vets to misdiagnose cases of BSE.
I remember reading that it is illegal for anyone (other than properly authorised federal agencies) to test for BSE in the USA. Presumably this is just to avoid the danger of false positives and has nothing to do with powerful lobbies risking financial devastation if news of a major BSE outbreak ever got out.
Any news on whether any of these millions of lbs of beef were tested for BSE ? The strangest thing for me, as a Brit, is that it doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone to ask the question.
curmudgeon99 and homeward angel__ As for the Limbaugh remark, I have been pointing out that Hillary may be our best bet for president as Baracks dreamworld may not be attainable and will surely disappoint many people.
It is hard to see what good your constant gloom and doom scenario does as we have 300 million people to feed in this country and it cannot be done with a few small garden plots that in most cases would be abandoned becouse of the work involved.
Some people seem to think the answer is to let all of the cattle now alive die and not replace them so the wicked meat eaters would have to quit their disgusting habit. This site is well named Common Dreams and not Common Reality.
I expect the cattle would rather live their lives for 10 years or even 2 or 3 as it would be preferable to never existing. I have raised cattle and most of them live quite good lives, so most of the cruelty stories are blown out of proportion.
My husband and I reached a decision over a year ago, shortly after reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, that we were choosing to “drop out” of the whole catastrophic food situation in this country We stopped eating meat, fish and eggs, period. We buy locally at an organic, animal-product free worker’s co-op. We also grow most of our vegetables - right now, it’s kale, chard, lettuce, herbs and carrots. My co-op only carries organic food grown within 100 miles of the city and they identify each grower. No pesticides, no GMO’s, no cloned weirdy things, just Real Food. I also bake our bread. We have also completely stopped eating in restaurants, mostly because you have no clue what is really being put in your food. I can honestly say that we have never felt better. For the first time in my adult life, after a lifetime struggle to control my weight, I am thin, my blood pressure is normal and my cholesterol is textbook, where a year ago it was over 300. Our two adult children, who no longer live at home, have made the same commitment…actually our daughter has been a vegan since she was fourteen - ten years. I make no judgments about anyone else’s food choices…it’s a very personal thing…but I am glad we made the change, knowing that every meal we eat now is life-giving to our fellow creatures and really nourishing for both body and spirit. Oh, and I work full-time, so this has had to be a real priority in order to find the time, but it can be done.
Let’s just remember not to be concerned with the suffering of the sentient beings that we are brutalizing from birth onward. It doesn’t really make for such “bon appetite” as when one has one’s mind turned off.
Not all beef is created equal. To issue a blanket statement to the effect, that because yet another agricorp factory farm has yet again put out an inferior product, all beef is bad (for people and the planet), is just plain ignorant.
I only buy local, grass fed beef. It is of the highest quality, raised in an environmentally responsible manner. The animals are treated humanely, never given antibiotics or growth hormones.
And, not all people can successfully be vegetarians. I tried once, eating a very well-balanced diet being prepared for me by a dedicated vegetarian cook. After a month I could barely walk up a flight of stairs. One meal of red meat and I started regaining my strength back.
I’m totally against the agricorp factory farms, whether they’re growing vegetables or raising animals. So please, keep your misguided moralities out of my kitchen and place the focus where it needs to be. On the horrendous practices of the factory farms.
Hey, redstatelefty. I’m a red state lefty too, but I have to disagree with you regarding meat vs. veggies. Yes, you’re right about factory produced vs. wholesome home grown, but it’s also the resources (water and food) required to produce a pound of meat. given the severity of the global water crisis (and even the national one right here in the U.S.), I think it’s important for people to begin to come to terms with the concept of frugality–not something we in the U.S. have ever been noted for. That homegrown beef, in other words, is going to require just as much water (maybe more) to get to your table, but if you’re eating homegrown vegetarian food . . . well, you can draw your own conclusions.
I tried vegetarian, turned green, then yellow, bloated, farted constantly and generally felt like shit. I’ll probably die from Mad Cow Disease some day but I feel pretty good now despite the fact that I feel bad about the damage too many cows do to the planet.
Unfortunately, the problem is too many people impacting resources. I see vegetarianism as a bandaid cure when we should be talking about family planning.
whosetruth-
What a radical! But seriously, thanks for an honest, non-judgmental perspective on an important issue.
Besides being a healthy and nutritional approach to a serious situation, what you suggest is also a community, economic and environmentally conscious course of action.
Mijari,
So the only ones with moral responsibility are corporate players? Your kitchen is morality-free? Come on.
And in reference to your debunking of the idea that all beef is bad: it’s not just a question of people and the planet, but instead also a matter of the animals. Humane treatment in life ignores the moment of slaughter.
does anyone know where the meat that didnt go to schools went? I went to the recall site and they said they were selling lips , bile, lymph nodes etc. But there was no mention what other outlets sold this stuff, like restaraunts or stores?????
I just saw the movie, fast food nation. Very well done as is this article on the dark side of animal production for consumption. There is another aspect which hasn’t been touched on. And that is that i think the abuse and cruelty inflicted on the animals, and the humans who do the work, comes back around when the animal is consumed. i think that to eat meat and thus support this whole process makes it easier for people to act cruelly or inconsiderate to others. It maybe helps make it easier to hear the misfortune of others who live somewhere else, like iraq, and do nothing. i remember what my life was like as a meat eater. Generally, i felt i had less connection with other living things. And i think i was more amenable to being treated like the cattle i was eating. In other words, i was one of the sheeple. I can’t say that ending my contribution to this process was the only reason for my turnaround in consciousness. But it was a big part.
Meat is murder.
Dairy is rape.
Go vegan.
for those who “tried” to go veg, but “failed”: You clearly did it wrong. Like anything else ventured, you need to go into it informed and aware.
I saw the Humane Society videos after the link was posted by a blogger about a week before the news hit the Corporate Media. The video really impacted me, and brought me to tears. My wife stumbled in while I was watching, and of course she simply said, “you shouldn’t watch and read so much depressing stuff on the internet.”
Indeed, eyes open vs. eyes closed.
As a person brought up on a diet of meat, I am dealing more with the addiction or life long habit, than the itellectual understanding that “I shouldn’t eat meat.” I am wrapping my mind around the idea of becoming a total vegan, and have already over the years reduced, but not eliminated my consumption of red meat (replaced mostly with chicken and turkey, although that too is coming to an end). I can feel myself shifting at a deeper level however, reaching that critical point where “enough is enough.”
As for the cruelty, yes, it is too much, and yes, it is a reflection of a human arrogance and ignorance. If I had to kill every animal myself that I intended to eat, perhaps at least, I would respect the sacrifice and cost of life in each mouthful.
What brought me to tears, was a casual punch in the face of a cow as it was loaded on or off a truck. Certainly, that was not the harshest thing to see, but it touched me that that “cruelty” was again simply an expression of the “Human Condition.” (a tragedy thus far to be sure)
I heard someone say a few years back, the term “De-regulation” was code for “De-crimalization” and that has stuck with me as very true. It is a tool in understanding the CON that is constantly being gotten away with, sold to us by politicians, industry and the CM. It helps explain the atrocities committed when safety and health proceedures in a meat plant are “de-criminalized.”
Tiberius–Good luck in your quest. You are on the right path. Yes, animal consumption is an addiction that is ingrained in our society, but you can conquer it. Some people have a harder time than others, but there are many meat alternatives available that make it easier to make the transition. I would advise that you focus on eating nourishing foods, locally produced whenever possible. As hewhowalksalone noted, alot of people fail because they think not eating meat is sufficient for a balanced diet. Then they gorge on sweets or dairy products and wonder why they turn green/yellow and fart all the time! Good grief. If you gradually add a variety of grains and legumes to your diet, along with lots of pesticide-free produce, I’m confident you will, like whosetruth, begin to feel healthier and more energetic than you ever have before. Spiritually too. To separate from the system of cruelty is unbelievably freeing. I wish you the best.
“So the only ones with moral responsibility are corporate players? Your kitchen is morality-free? Come on.”
I’m not saying my kitchen is morality-free. I’m just saying to keep you morality out of my kitchen, and I’ll do the same for yours.
“And in reference to your debunking of the idea that all beef is bad: it’s not just a question of people and the planet, but instead also a matter of the animals. Humane treatment in life ignores the moment of slaughter.”
From my spiritual perspective, all life is sacred.
“Meat is murder.
Dairy is rape.
Go vegan.
for those who “tried” to go veg, but “failed”: You clearly did it wrong. Like anything else ventured, you need to go into it informed and aware.”
Please list, if you will, all the indigenous cultures in history of the world that have lived on a vegan diet. It shouldn’t take long. I’ll even give you a hint how many there have been, at least with any descendants: ZERO.
Thank you for observations anyway. I’ll have to tell the Amish Family, who I receive my raw milk from, that they’ve been raping their cows all these years.
An added note: how many of the vegetarians and vegans posting here rely on food supplement pills to meet your dietary needs? How do you propose that societies/cultures that are impoverished, and on the brink of starvation, purchase these supplements? Veganism and Vegetarianism is a luxury only affordable to the richest 5% of the world’s population.
For the “meat is murder”, “dairy is rape” (this seems to be a common theme among many vegans) crowd, how should cultures that rely on hunting and/or herding for their diets, and where raising vegetables is near impossible due to the climate, survive? They consume the flesh, blood and milk of animals that can convert native plants, with nutrients not absorbable by humans, into absorbable nutrients. Or, do you propose letting them die of starvation in order to save their cows, sheep, chickens and goats from being murdered and raped?
Vegans, cover your eyes, so as not to be offended:
Vegetarians, did you know that chickens are not vegetarians, and that when you buy “vegetarian cage-free” eggs, those chickens must be kept inside of buildings with cement floors, for their whole lives? Free-range chickens, those allowed outdoors, eat bugs, spiders, even voles and mice. They are predators.
In making this statement, I understand I am operating from a (reasonable, I hope) set of assumptions about those on this forum who resist veganism, but how does the diet of hunters/herders have anything to do with your ability to take such a step? Do you make such considerations about other choices in your life — do you forego electricity because the poorest don’t have it? Surely, choices must be made in a more nuanced way that strive toward creative solutions.
Instead, what might it mean to use the resources of a nation/culture to become independent from the utilitarian treatment of animals so that we might aid other countries to express/act on non-violence in their own culturally-specific ways. An idealistic goal, to be sure, but one which sets a threshhold for justice against the unjust status quo.
Actually, I fully expect I will be foregoing electricity (no computer, no cell phone…) for at least a couple of years, when I start my Peace Corps service in about a year. I live a very simple life as it is, consuming very little compared to the average American. I purchase almost no packaged/processed food, buying fresh food on an almost daily basis. Most of my food comes from within a 50 mile radius of where I live. Also, in order to offset the ecological impact of my dietary choices, I’ve given up many other things available to Americans. And, because of my shopping choices, I’ve cut my recycling and trash output way down, by purchasing from bulk bins, bringing my own containers, bags, etc.
My main argument here is that morality should not be attached to my choice of eating meat, any more than it should be attached to the eating of vegetables. It is my choice and nothing more.
If you’re coming at me with the argument that eating meat is immoral for the cruelty of killing an animal, then isn’t it just as immoral for those who have no other choice, even if it is the only food available? The history of the world is painted with the blood of those who have died defending themselves from those who would impose their own moral values on others.
Have you ever heard the spirit of a tree scream in agony as it was being ruthlessly cut down? I have. I’ve also heard the acceptance of a tree spirit that knew it had to go. Same thing with animals. There is an inhumane way to take their lives, and there is a humane way also. Cultures the world around know this, and that is why there are Halal and Kosher laws that prescribe how an animal is to be slaughtered, and why a indigenous hunter asks for the blessing/forgiveness of an animal they are about to kill.
Despite the best arguments of the proponents of vegetarianism, not everyone, I’d even venture most, can thrive on such a diet. As I stated before, there have been zero vegan cultures in the history of the world, and very few purely vegetarian cultures. I stand by that statement and challenge anyone to disprove it. If it worked on such a universal basis, isn’t that where we’d be?
Yes, the Earth’s resources are severely being taxed. But put the blame for that, where it really lies; with the over-consumptive habits of modern civilization and the immense over population of this planet. It would suit me just fine to live in a society where no one was in any more hurry to get from point A to point B than they could cover on their own two feet.
I do forgo many things I could have, from the fortunate happenstance of being born an American with almost limitless opportunities. I’ve made a conscious choice to never own property, never own a home, to live simply so that others may simply live. My present vehicle will be my last greenhouse gas spewing mode of personal transportation. If I need another car, it will have zero emissions (preferably a “water fuel cell”… Google that) or I will walk. In all likelihood, I will spend most of the rest of my days living in a third world country, trying my best to help others overcome poverty.
Mijari–no, it’s not just as immoral for someone to kill an animal for survival as it is for convenience and “taste”, which is why it’s done in this culture. That’s the point–it’s unnecessary cruelty. And yes, that’s why indigenous hunters ask for the forgiveness of the animals they kill. You sound like a very conscious person. It baffles me why you would so vociferously argue in favor of such a barbaric custom.
Personally, I don’t eat beef for convenience or taste, I eat it as an essential part of my survival, and the only way for me to keep my anemia at bay, which all supplements and alternate diets have failed to do.
And while I don’t hunt my own meat, I pay a very small operation beef farmer for my share. He’s part of my local economy, i.e. my tribe. No different than a non-hunting member of a tribe getting a share of the hunt in return for other services.
Whatever the choices I make in my life, I accept any karmic consequences fully. I try to make sure those choices have as little negative impact on the Earth as possible.