Meat recall generates confusion

A&M agriculturalists say problem caused by animal handling issue

By: Melissa Appel

Posted: 2/21/08

The largest meat recall in United States history deals with removing possible contaminants from the food chain, but the United States Department of Agriculture stresses that it is simply an animal handling issue.

Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company announced a Class II recall Monday of over 143 million pounds of beef produced since February 1, 2006. The Chino, California plant was brought under investigation after an undercover Humane Society worker recorded a video of crippled beef cattle being pushed and prodded in the plant.

Under the provisions of the Final Rule published by the Food Safety Inspection Service on July 12, any slaughter cattle that are unable to stand or walk must not be brought into the slaughter plant. The inability to walk could be a symptom of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, more popularly known as mad cow disease. Cattle expressing this symptom must be subjected to an additional antemortem inspection before progressing to the food chain, something the California plant neglected to do.

A Class II recall is issued when there is a minute chance of a public food safety hazard. While some Americans are questioning the safety of food in homes and schools, the USDA has stated that American meat is safe from BSE contamination.

Daniel Hale, professor of meat science and animal science at Texas A&M, stressed the true concerns behind this event.

"There is no BSE involved at all. This is not a BSE issue. This is an animal handling issue."

Since the 1980s, the USDA has implemented certain "firewalls" to prevent the European BSE cases from spreading to the U.S. So far, all precautions have worked. Only two cases of BSE have been reported in the U.S. since 2004, and BSE has never been reported to have contaminated the food chain.

The Rosenthal Meat Science and Technology Center on campus harvests beef, lamb and pork meat in accordance with Food Safety Inspection Service regulations and under the supervision of a state inspector.

Employees at Rosenthal do not foresee any changes in their procedures in the wake of the California meat recall. "The meat recall won't affect Rosenthal at all because we follow the letter of the law," Hale said.

Students have taken an interest in the issues concerning the meat recall. Jae Ebeling, a freshman animal science and agronomy major, said that most of the general population doesn't realize the issue is not about food safety.

"A lot of people don't know about agriculture these days," Ebeling said. "The main purpose of the Humane Society is to abolish animal agriculture. The Humane Society does do some good things, but I don't think they're in the best interest of animal agriculture."

The video from inside the plant has been widely circulated throughout the Internet for the public to view, causing many students to question if their food is truly safe.

"The video disturbed me, but I don't think it's as big a health crisis as the media is making it out to be," said Laura Davis, a freshman history major.

Because of the reports by the USDA and the set regulations by the Food Safety Inspection Service, consumers can be completely assured that the meat on the market today is safe and free from BSE contamination. The Class II recall was issued due to animal handling problems that violated fixed procedures, not because of a possible health hazard.

"The number one point is that this is not a food safety issue," Hale said. "I can say with complete assurance that the meat supply of America is safe."