Government didn't recall meat or notify public in salmonella outbreak

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/news-23/1141894444178670.xml&storylist=cleveland

3/9/2006, 3:43 a.m. ET
By LIBBY QUAID
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Agriculture Department stands by its decision not to alert the public about suspect ground beef after a 2004 salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 31 people nationwide.

A report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was made public Wednesday by food safety advocates said the meat was traced to a single meat processing plant.

Agriculture Department spokesman Steven Cohen said that officials did a full investigation and were prepared to act on any problems at the plant. "We didn't find problems," Cohen said.

Unlike E. coli and listeria, salmonella in raw meat is not an "adulterant" under federal guidelines because people are expected to cook raw meat before they eat it and cooking kills salmonella...

[DELUSIONAL]

1. New policy -- kill off as many citizens as possible??

I had read that the job of public notification was taken over by one of the political arms of the propaganda divisions of the bushie white house. But since all the civil service seems to be infiltrated with these sub-humanoids -- SOP is in effect.

[Cobalt Violet]

3. It really seems that way.

And that new food label warning thing will really accelerate it.

Kill us off before get old enough to collect SS.

[warrens]

9. If you want to have fun with the political end of this stuff...

Check out what happened to Lester Crawford, head of the FDA, last fall. One Tuesday night, he told an audience in Washington that FDA was just about to introduce a really strict rule concerning cannibalistic practices in the cattle feed industry. By Friday morning, he was gone, disappeared. He has never appeared in public since then, evidently because the Bushies threatened to prosecute him over some stock his wife owned in pharmaceutical firms (and evidently, it was through a fund, so she didn't actually own the stock, but this is how Rove and his boys play).

In this case, I have heard, the real issue was protecting the source of the beef, which was, rumor has it, Cargill. The processor bought bulk beef that was already coated with salmonella, ground it up, and sold it to the national chain, which was evidently Sam's Club, although no one knows for sure. When USDA came knocking on the processor's door, the guy showed them his paperwork, including the source of the beef. There was no evidence of salmonella in the plant, and USDA allowed them to reopen, but never traced the beef back to the original supplier. Some little meat grinder has zero influence, but people like Cargill and major renderers and the American Meat Institute sure do.

[KoKo]

10. Ha! Cargill advertises heavily on CNBC/NBC...

I always note who does heavy advertising appearing to be so "consumer oriented" in their ads. Lots of nice music and smiling laughing children and families. Every time it's one of these companies who is "behind the scenes" trying to get rid of any regulatory oversite on the products they sell.

[Gman]

2. Being of conservative political persuasion

but what don't they understand about "promote the general welfare"?

[acmejack]

4. And they expect us to pay taxes for this shit?

What is wrong with these people? They won't do crap for us but send our children off to be killed in wars we don't want and allow us to foot the bill. I am getting more than a little "rebellious" & no, Agent Mike, I'm not kidding!

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Think I'll go to the library and check out "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair

and get mad all over again.

[xchrom]

6. another bush failure.

[izzie]

7. They used to do that, so we would not buy the stuff. What------

reason can they give out for buying bad beef? Faith that big corp. always do what is good for the people buying I guess. I guess Dem. do not need to worry, we do not have enough money to buy beef any how.

[DamnYank]

8. I haven't eaten beef in years

Mainly because of the threat of mad cow disease and the failure of the US to follow WHO guidelines for preventing infection of the beef supply. Stories like this one affirm the soundness of this decision. If they can't handle a minor salmonella outbreak how would they handle a potentially industry-killing situation? Can you say "cover-up", boys and girls?

I tell people that the US beef industry is largely self-regulated and that the USDA "inspectors" lack authority to shut down the lines in many cases. They look at me as if I'm a space alien and go off to the nearest burger barn to eat lunch. I don't see how anyone can eat American ground beef at all. Ignorance really is bliss.