Does the food safety net work? Mad cow case raises new questions

This is an excellent article that answers many practical questions about BSE and the food industry.

http://msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3802544&p1=0

By Jon Bonné
MSNBC
Updated: 11:15 p.m. ET Dec. 28, 2003

But no federal regulation requires a quarantine of meat from questionable animals during testing. The meat can be released into the food supply; meat linked to the the diseased cow discovered in Washington has been traced to at least eight states. While many in the beef industry endorse a test-and-hold process, which would require a quarantine, not all processing facilities withhold the meat during testing. Neither the USDA nor Congress have proposed a requirement for test-and-hold procedures.

The Canadian cow found with mad cow disease this summer was a downer. Many big beef buyers will not accept meat from downed cattle, including McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and the federal school lunch program, which USDA administers. Producers often decide to reject downers, not only because it prohibits them from doing business with major customers, but also extra work is required to handle the heightened inspection process for downers. "They're a challenge to handle at the packing plant," said John Scanga, a meat safety expert at Colorado State University's meat science program. The Senate this year backed a move to ban downers from U.S. consumption. But the House turned down a similar measure in July, and final legislation did not include a provision to ban the meat. While the meat industry Dairy producers often rely on older cows, including downers, as an additional source of income.

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Mad cow concerns have also prompted renewed focus on an industry technique known as advanced meat recovery, in which machines are used to scrape or shave muscle tissue away from cattle bones, including the head and vertebrae. The process, which accounts for an estimated $150 million in revenue, has caused worry among regulators and safety advocates because of the recovered meat sits so close to neural tissue -- a cow's brain or spinal cord -- where the deformed proteins, or prions, that cause mad cow disease can be found.

A 2002 survey of producers using AMR techniques found that one in three meat samples was infected with neural tissue, notably bits of spinal cord. The industry disputes that figure, and the government began a more stringent inspection program this year. USDA has yet to issue new data, but the recent data actually shows an improvement from earlier in 2002, when three of every four AMR samples showed traces of contamination. The recovered meat usually is used in processed products, such as ground beef, taco fillings and meatballs. In addition to antemortem inspections, beef carcasses and recovered meat can be tested after slaughter.

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My comments: While the school lunch program doesn't accept "downers," it does accept meat acquired via the AMR technique, which, according to this article, in 3/4 cases is infected with brain and spinal bits. Parents need to DEMAND that no further meat acquired through the AMR technique be used for school lunches!

The thread, of course. :kick:

Forget about mad cow, what about e-coli? This is just the tip of the iceburg as far as health inspections of food is concerned. Letting industry goliaths do in house tests instead of the fda is an obvious cover up and another example of what happens when businesses regulate themselves.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/hellraiser/2003/11/ma_573_01.html

meant as a monitor. Only way to fix this is to test each animal before slaughter and stop feeding ground up animals to animals. The testing would only add 2 - 3 cents per pound.
Replacing the the animal protein source with vegetable (soy) would make the feed more expensive. Back when I was a farm kid there was no animal by products in the feed we used, it's been used by the big corporate feed lots to save money. Once again, greed.

Are the ones who put most of the family farmers, who raised meat for market, out of business...Our beef got fed only what we grew...my brother carries on the family farm today but raises only beef ...gone are the chickes, ducks, geese, and pigs...We butchered everything that went on the table ourselves...today when I go home to visit I go begging for good beef...there is a world of difference in the taste alone...

A lot of people, if they ever visited a corporate feed lot or chicken house would never eat meat again....

There is absolutely no reason except profits for us to even be having this discussion....There is absolutly no reason except for profits for any slaughter house to purchase a downed animal...The simple truth of the matter is Corporations don't care, never have and never will.

never entered the food chain. And you are right, corporate feed lots and chicken houses are horrid, not just in their inhumane animal treatment but the absolute filth and disregard for safety of their products and their workers. Tyson is one of the most disgusting, but there are many others.

How many people ate the hamburger before it was recalled? Class action lawsuit, anyone? Talk about emotional distress!

at self-monitoring for safety than the government - and hence we deregulated the heck out of every industry over the past 20+ years...

The theory was that unsafe products would be too costly for companies in terms of lost sales (pushed out by more safe products) - and by the threat of law suits.

But wait... we need tort reform - no civil redress! We need less government interventions... (so the mantra goes).... Meanwhile we will subsidize certain industries in ways that assist the mega companies more ... lower their costs more... making mid and small companies (in this case farms and processing operations) at a great disadvantage...

While the Reaganesque mantras "sound good" - they are based on cynical beliefs that are not workable.

I expect many more crises to develop - far beyond MadCowDisease - but that the public and politicians will keep using the same mantras in order to keep the $$$$$$s flowing into the bohemoth corporations and into the campaign cycle as a pay-off.

If it were to really get bad - as in - kicking in series of crises in numerous areas tied to public safety/health in big enough ways (eg glamorous enough to cover in the news) - that finally the discussion of how we got here (to a big part the campaign funding system)... will lead to national discourse on campaign funding as bribery - as more and more cases of actions/votes by congressional folks (and actions of presidents) can be demonstrated to have cyncially worked against public health/safety but were tied to HUGE corporate donations. Tie in the stories about Senator Stevens, about Tom DeLays illegal PAC activities in Texas and innumerous others. Makes abscam look like pinochle. But sadly, it would take a critical mass of concern (not just people - but areas of abject failures/areas that put voting folks at risk - that will move the critical mass) before these discussions would ever make it into regular folks public discourse.

I think the timing is right to look at EVERYTHING we put in our mouths. It's lucky that no one died (of course, that's debatable). And very typical of reactive (as opposed to proactive) corporations, who will not act until they are forced to do so.

The almighty dollar steers their every decision. If they know they are about to lose their asses, they will reform the industry. But not before, notice? So it's up to us to decide whether we want this stuff going through our digestive tract, hiding in our cells and carrying through abnormalities to our children and our children's children.

It's up to US. We hold the most powerful tool of all: our pocketbook. When we say NO forcefully by refusing to buy diseased meat, they will listen.

While we're on the subject, we should look at not just the meat industry but also vegetables (I'm a vegetarian) and this is probably the time to look at animal and petroleum fertilizers.

Pass the word. http://www.parkc.org/Madcow_veggies.html

Currently four million Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The percentage of cases is on the rise with solid research showing that there are about 360,000 individuals newly diagnosed each year.

At Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania at Pittsburgh, researchers recently studied the brains of people who died of Alzheimer's disease (46 in the Yale case and 54 in the Pittsburgh study). Surprisingly, the autopsies respectively showed that 13 percent and five percent of the dead were actually CJD cases misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's disease.

In a third (smaller) study published in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience (1995), investigators reported that three out of 12 patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease were found to have had CJD when autopsied. It should be noted CJD symptoms may be remarkably similar to those of Alzheimer's disease.