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Eating Beef Isn't As Safe As It Used To Be

Posted on: Thursday, 10 April 2008, 18:00 CDT

In 2006, Seattle food safety attorney Bill Marler advised produce packers and growers to look at the beef sector for tips on reducing food borne illness outbreaks.

At the time, a series of E. coli outbreaks had rocked the industry -- sickening more than 200 people who ate tainted spinach or lettuce. In the meantime, the beef industry, plagued in the 1990s by similar food scares, had made great strides in reducing food poisoning cases.

Now, the pendulum has swung.

Since 2007, federal health officials have documented 67 beef recalls, up from eight in 2006. At least 20 recalls are linked to E. coli tainted meat.

"It's not a pretty picture," Marler said of the recent spate of beef recalls. "I wonder if they took their eye off the ball."

Lawmakers and consumers wonder the same thing. In light of the recent recall of 143 million pounds of beef processed in a Chino slaughterhouse, many are asking: Is the government doing enough to keep America's food supply safe?

The Department of Agriculture hosted a hearing on Tuesday to address the challenges of preventing e. Coli outbreaks. Marler is one of a handful food industry insiders and experts who spoke at the two-day public hearing, which comes two months after Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Co. was found illegally slaughtering crippled cows.

The scandal at the Chino slaughterhouse, owned by Steven Mendell of Corona del Mar, has thrust the beef industry and its regulators back into the spotlight. Everything from increasing inspector ranks to zapping meat with irradiation technologies have been suggested to keep food safe.

While lawmakers and regulators work to find solutions, consumers face real questions.

Q: Has anyone gotten sick eating any of the recalled beef?

A: No, according to state and federal health officials.

Q: We know school children ate the meat. What about restaurants and supermarkets?

A: Hundreds of food facilities got the recalled meat, including Taco Bell and In-N-Out Burger, both based in Irvine, and Costco. The California Department of Public Health is compiling a list of retailers who got the meat. To read the state list, go to http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/default.aspx .

Q: Why was the recall spread out over two years?

A: It's unclear. Many food safety experts and retailers have questioned why the USDA recommended such a large recall. The recall was tagged a Class 2, which means there is a remote chance of anyone getting sick from eating the product. The USDA's meat inspection arm -- the Food Safety and Inspection Service, or FSIS -- claimed it had enough "evidence" to justify such a widespread recall.

Q: What kind of evidence?

A: No one knows exactly. FSIS said it had proof that the Chino slaughterhouse, Westland/Hallmark, had "the practice of occasionally slaughtering" downer cows without approval by an inspector.

Q: Does anyone think two years is too much?

A: Yes. Millions of pounds of beef have been discarded since the mid-February recall. Costco called the recall an unnecessary waste of meat. Mike Doyle, one of the nation's leading food safety experts, said in a recent phone interview that the recall was overkill.

"It is a waste of money. A waste of food," said Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. "To me, that's the biggest sin here. We're wasting perfectly good food."

Q: Why are downers so dangerous?

A: Downer cattle -- animals that cannot stand up -- are banned from the food supply. A downer cow could swallow manure and pass E. coli into the human food chain. Worse, a downer could be suffering from bovine spongiform encephalopathy, "mad cow disease," which can be spread through food.

Q: Any exceptions?

A: Downer cattle can be slaughtered if a federal veterinarian certifies that the cow is down due to an acute injury such as a broken limb. If a cow goes down after the initial inspection, slaughterhouse workers must call back a federal veterinarian to re-inspect the cripple cattle.

Q: Is that what happened at Westland/Hallmark?

A: No. The on-site inspector, who'd worked at the plant for many years, did not approve the slaughter of the sick cows, according to the USDA and the Humane Society of the United States. The animal-rights group went undercover at the plant and caught the abuse on video, which was released to the media in late January.

Q: How can I be sure that other slaughterhouses aren't illegally torturing downer cows?

A: Federal authorities maintain this was an isolated incident. However, in 2007 federal inspectors made 167,000 checks for humane handling. They dealt out 691 noncompliance records for relatively minor violations, like not having water available in pens, and 12 suspensions for major violations.

Dr. Kenneth Petersen, a USDA assistant administrator, said "12 is a bad number, but it doesn't happen all the time."

Q: Beyond inspectors, has the USDA considered any other kind of surveillance methods in slaughterhouses?

A: The USDA said during a recent press conference that it has considered video surveillance in livestock pens. But officials say it is too soon to make such recommendations. Also, lawmakers are pushing for reform.

"These (recall) numbers indicate there is a serious increasing problem with our food safety system," Congressman Bart Stupak said during a March food safety hearing.

Q: Do other experts feel the USDA can do more?

A: Yes. In numerous government watchdog reports, the U.S. food safety system has been dubbed a high-risk federal program. In January 2007, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report saying the nation's current food-safety system puts at risk the health and safety of consumers, as well as the country's $1 trillion agricultural economy.

No fewer than 15 government agencies, including the USDA and the FDA, administer and enforce 30 laws related to food safety. The GAO report called the oversight of the food supply system "inconsistent, ineffective and inefficient."

Doyle said the incident at Westland/Hallmark proved that the USDA was not doing its best to enforce beef regulations.

"It was obvious that inspectors weren't doing their job," he said. "There were inspectors at this processing facility and there were still problems with downers. That tells me there may not be as good of oversight."

Q: Is it safe to eat meat?

A: "I think the food supply in the U.S. is the safest in the world," Peterson said after the Westland/Hallmark recall.

Q: Does Doyle think it's safe to eat meat?

A: Yes, if the beef is cooked right.

Q: Is there anything Doyle won't eat?

A: Doyle hasn't touched bagged spinach since the major produce outbreaks of 2006.

Register staff writer Ronald Campbell contributed to this report.

FOOD SAFETY WORKSHOP

--What: The United Stated Department of Agriculture is hosting a two-day food safety workshop in Washington D.C.

--Topic: E. coli: Addressing the Challenges, Moving Forward With Solutions

--When: Wednesday and Thursday

--Speakers: National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Beef Industry Food Safety Council and various USDA regulators.

--More information: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/

BY THE NUMBERS

--Each year, 76 million people contract a food-borne illness in the United States.

--Of those, about 5,000 die.

--The agriculture industry generates more than $1 trillion in economic activity annually, or about 13 percent of the gross domestic product in the United States.

--Some 7,800 Department of Agriculture inspectors work at 6,200 slaughterhouse plants. The plants legally cannot operate without them.

--Since mid-2004 the USDA has tested 759,000 animals for mad cow disease. Just two have tested positive.

--In 2007, federal authorities issued 66 suspensions of federally inspected plants. Of those, 18 percent or 12 citations were for "egregious humane handling" of animals witnessed by inspectors.

Source: USDA, Centers for Disease Control, General Accounting Office

Source: The Orange County Register

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