California DOWNER COW meat worker: I was following orders

Saturday, March 8, 2008 California DOWNER COW meat worker: I was following orders Calif. meat worker: I was following orders

ADELANTO, Calif. (AP) — A former slaughterhouse worker who was videotaped abusing ailing cattle in a case that led to the largest beef recall in U.S. history said in a jailhouse interview that he was only following orders.

Luis Sanchez said he felt bad when he saw how the cows were treated at Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., and insisted his boss taught him to use a forklift to move so-called downer cows along the slaughter line.

HISTORIC RECALL: Meat plant concerns raised for years

LEGAL LOOPHOLE: Government sued over ailing cattle

"That's how I was taught. He taught me to do the work. I didn't know it was a serious crime," Sanchez told the San Bernardino Sun in an interview published Friday.

Sanchez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was being held at the Adelanto Detention Center on immigration charges. He was charged with animal cruelty in the slaughterhouse case, but he also faced charges in two unrelated drug cases.

Sanchez's ex-boss, Daniel Ugarte Navarro, 49, has pleaded not guilty to five felony counts of animal abuse and three misdemeanor counts of illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal. The counts carry a maximum prison sentence of 5 years, 8 months, prosecutors have said.

Navarro will be assigned an attorney by the county public defender's office at his March 24 arraignment.

Last month, the Agriculture Department issued the recall after the Humane Society of the United States released undercover video of workers forcing sick and crippled cows to stand with electric prods and forklifts.

Sanchez appeared in the video using an electric prod.

Sanchez said he learned the company was handling the cows differently than other slaughterhouses from truck drivers who brought the animals to the plant. He said his supervisor told the workers to use care when federal inspectors were around.

Sanchez, who first came to the slaughterhouse about 10 years ago, said he doesn't understand why he's in jail.

"I think it's unjust that I'm here. Where are the people in charge?" he told the newspaper.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-03-08-slaughterhouse-abuse_N.htm



Calif. meat worker: I was following orders

no doubt! i believe the guy, and i believe this practice of allowing downers into the food supply is wide spread.

here is just one more example $$$

Originally posted by worried about the industry

If the sick cattle don't get into the cooler how can anybody make a profit?

It is people like you that will cause the beef industry to colapse with your attitude. Get real. And if you believe as you say I hope you get the first bite of that sick animal.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3/6/2008 1:46 PM Posted By: GW =====================================================snip...end...TSS

YOU REALLY DON'T THINK that all these downers are just buried $$$

Animal Mortality Figures

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates 1.7103 million cattle and 2.3656 million calves died prior to slaughter in 2002, for a total of just under 4.1 million deaths.

snip...

Cattle, however, with their heavier body weights, comprise approximately 67 percent of the total weight of all mammalian livestock mortalities. In 2002, the total weight for cattle was 2.7 billion pounds. Beef cattle account for the largest proportion of farm, ranch, and feedlot mortality, in respect to weight.

snip...

Focus on Non-Ambulatory Cattle

Non-ambulatory cattle have been estimated by USDA to be approximately 200,000 head per year based on a 1999 American Association of Bovine Practitioners survey.(2) It is proposed that this estimate understates the condition by not fully accounting for feedlot cattle of younger ages commonly affected with metabolic and or respiratory disorders that often present neurological-like clinical symptoms and thus described as non-ambulatory. It is impossible to give accurate figures on incidence because of variations in nomenclature and the accuracy of diagnosis. Because it is a syndrome until an accurate diagnosis is confirmed, the exact incidence is speculative.


http://www.rendermagazine.com/October2004/TechTopics.html


MARCH 2002

Livestock Mortalities:

Methods of Disposal and Their

Potential Costs

USDA/National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates that in the year 2000,

approximately 4.1 million cattle died before they could be sent to slaughter (Table 2). Of these, 2.4 million were calves (under 500 lbs), with the balance of 1.7 million over 6 months of age (or, as reported, in excess of 500 lbs). ....END...TSS

NASS

Non-Ambulatory

Cattle and Calves

Released May 5, 2005, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department

of Agriculture. For information on Non-ambulatory Cattle and Calves call Mike Miller at 720-3040, office hours 7:30 a.m. to

4:30 p.m. ET.

Cattle and Calves: Non-Ambulatory Number,

by Region and United States, 2003-2004

ALL CATTLE 2003 = 465,000

ALL CATTLE 2004 = 450,000

SNIP...END...TSS

Non-Ambulatory

Cattle and Calves

Released May 5, 2005, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department

of Agriculture. For information on Non-ambulatory Cattle and Calves call Mike Miller at 720-3040, office hours 7:30 a.m. to

4:30 p.m. ET.

Non-Ambulatory Cattle and Calves

Non-ambulatory cattle and calves in the United States totaled 465,000 head during 2003 and

450,000 head during 2004. The number of non-ambulatory cattle 500 pounds or greater totaled

280,000 head in 2003 and 270,000 head in 2004. The number of calves under 500 pounds reported

as non-ambulatory totaled 185,000 head in 2003 and 180,000 head in 2004.

...SNIP...END...TSS

Friday, March 7, 2008

USDA QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS HALLMARK/WESTLAND MEAT PACKING CO. March 6, 2008

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS HALLMARK/WESTLAND MEAT PACKING CO.

March 6, 2008

Consumer Concerns

Q. My child/school recently consumed Hallmark/Westland products. What is the risk to children's health?

SEE FULL TEXT ;


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/usda-questions-and-answers.html


Wednesday, February 27, 2008

BEEF RECALL NATIONWIDE - SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM UPDATE


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/02/beef-recall-nationwide-school-lunch.html


Thursday, March 6, 2008

California lists possible recipients of recalled non-ambulatory 'DOWNER' (high potential for TSE) Hallmark beef


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/california-lists-possible-recipients-of.html


Thursday, March 6, 2008

House committee subpoenas Hallmark/Westland CEO - i call for an investigation of the investigators


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/house-committee-subpoenas.html


Thursday, March 6, 2008

USDA to Hallmark: We want our plaque back Legal/Regulatory News


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/usda-to-hallmark-we-want-our-plaque.html


Thursday, March 6, 2008

To the hard working employees of USDA and their untiring efforts to protect our childrens food supply


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/03/to-hard-working-employees-of-usda-and.html


In this context, a word is in order about the US testing program. After the discovery of the first (imported) cow in 2003, the magnitude of testing was much increased, reaching a level of >400,000 tests in 2005 (Figure 4). Neither of the 2 more recently indigenously infected older animals with nonspecific clinical features would have been detected without such testing, and neither would have been identified as atypical without confirmatory Western blots. Despite these facts, surveillance has now been decimated to 40,000 annual tests (USDA news release no. 0255.06, July 20, 2006) and invites the accusation that the United States will never know the true status of its involvement with BSE.


http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol12no12/06-0965.htm


PAUL BROWN COMMENT TO ME ON THIS ISSUE

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 11:10 AM

"Actually, Terry, I have been critical of the USDA handling of the mad cow issue for some years, and with Linda Detwiler and others sent lengthy detailed critiques and recommendations to both the USDA and the Canadian Food Agency."



http://lists.iatp.org/listarchive/archive.cfm?listID=147&startrow=1081



3/6/2008

i call for an investigation of the investigators

House committee subpoenas Hallmark/Westland CEO The subpoena orders him to testify at a March 12 hearing titled "Regulatory Failure: Must America Live With Unsafe Food?"<<< what a hoot. the ones that should be subpoenad and held accountable are the very ones on the committee. they have failed the public for years about BSE risk and regulations. the very people that are going to investigate this thing are the very folks responsible for all the children and elderly that were exposed to the potential of mad cow via non-ambulatory i.e. DOWNERS, the most likely to have a TSE. waxman et al have been claiming to be concerned about BSE aka mad cow disease's and one issue was the non-ambulatory 'downer' cattle, and i quote waxman; Failure To Test Staggering Cow May Reflect Wider Problems Rep. Waxman raises concerns that the recent failure of USDA to test an impaired cow for BSE may not be an isolated incident, citing the failure of USDA to monitor whether cows condemned for central nervous system symptoms are actually tested for mad cow disease.



http://reform.democrats.house.gov/documents/20040607142914-86912.pdf



http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20040607142914-86912.pdf




folks, that was in 2004. why, in 2008, why are we still discussing the same failures $$$

THE PEOPLE BELOW SHOULD ALL BE SUBPOENAED AS WELL FOR THEIR CONTINUED FAILURES TO PROTECT THE CONSUMER FROM MAD COW DISEASE. and i call for an investigation of the investigators below. why in 2008 are we still floundering $$$

Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations




http://energycommerce.house.gov/Subcommittees/ovin.shtml




CJD QUESTIONNAIRE


http://cjdquestionnaire.blogspot.com/



Specified Risk Material SRM see tons and tons of BANNED mad cow feed SRMs IN COMMERCE USA, the other safe guard USDA et al keeps boasting about, that has failed terribly along with the BSE surveillance and BSE testing protocols. see for yourself ;



http://madcowspontaneousnot.blogspot.com/2008/02/specified-risk-materials-srm.html



Terry S. Singeltary Sr. P.O. Box 42 Bacliff, Texas USA 77518