Health

Largest Meat Recall in U.S. History

by Barbara McPherson | February 13, 2010 at 10:37 am

692 views | 62 Recommendations | 10 comments

The largest meat recall in U.S. history is underway in California. Over 143 million pounds are being recalled. This meat was processed at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company. The plant, situated in Chino California is currently closed.

The Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. recall of 143.38 million pounds of beef is the largest meat recall to date (a 1998 Sarah Lee recall was 35 million pounds of various ready-to-eat meat products; Topps was 21.7 million pounds of ground beef). FSIS classified this recall as a “Class II” recall rather than a “Class I” because there is only a remote probability of adverse health consequences.

The "remote probability of adverse health consequences" is however a real one and the consequences are potentially devastating. The slaughter house apparently did not adhere to regulations that require that parts of the animal that may carry BSE, better known as Mad Cow must be removed from the food chain. If a cow is so sick that it cannot stand, it must not be put into the human food chain.
Hallmark/Westland was a supplier of beef to the National School Lunch Program until the end of January. Since then criminal charges have been filed against two former employees.
The FSIS( Food Safety and Inspection Service) has commented on the inhumane treatment afforded the animals in their slaughterhouse. Animals that cannot walk are "downers" and are not to enter the human food chain, but animals with broken legs are allowed if a Public Health Veterinarian inspects the animal and it is slaughtered at a "U.S. Suspect."

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Amy Judd

at 10:58 on February 13th, 2010

Wow that is gross

kuuva

at 12:16 on February 13th, 2010

why cant we just test every cow for BSE. I read the cost is about 25USD per animal. I would easily pay $0.10 per pound for a guarantee to be BSE Free.

nanute

at 12:20 on February 13th, 2010

This is just another example of what happens when industry has enough influence to circumvent, and make regulation and safety of the food supply meaningless.

Hugh Askew

at 14:59 on February 13th, 2010

That is the a couple of hundred thousand head of cattle.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 15:05 on February 13th, 2010

This is soooo gross, since they blocked Canadian beef from going into the US, even though our beef was screened properly.

The cattle market in the US/Canada is integrated and it was evident to most of us up here that if we had one the US had to have at least 10. I agree with kuuva why not spend $25 per animal and test them.

The other question is how old was this cow with BSE that entered the food chain. If she was younger than 7 or 8 years, a check should be made to see if they are cheating on feed as well.