USDA to Hallmark: We want our plaque back

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

By Janie Gabbett on 3/6/2008 for Meatingplace.com

USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service has formally rescinded Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co.'s supplier of the year award from the 2004/2005 school year and requested they return the physical award, which was a plaque.

"The award was rescinded because of evidence FSIS obtained that the establishment had the practice of occasionally slaughtering cattle that, although the cattle passed ante-mortem inspection, became non-ambulatory prior to entering the slaughter operation," USDA spokeswoman Angela Harless told Meatingplace.com.

Since 2000, AMS has not allowed nonambulatory cattle to be processed for sale as beef to AMS for distribution through USDA's Food and Nutrition Service to programs like the school lunch program.

The plaque is probably the least of Hallmark's worries. CEO Steven Mendell has been subpoenaed to appear before a House committee next week to explain downer cow animal abuse at the Chino, Calif. plant that led to the largest beef recall in history.

http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=19985


all the ones exposed to BSE/BASE/TSE mad cow are now cured i guess. the ones that might die in the years, decade to come, well, they will be forgotten. problem solved. it will all go back to sporadic CJD. the utter absurdity of it all. round and round we go. BUT, bbbut, at least the USDA will have their damn plaque back. ...TSS

''WE WANT OUR PLAQUE BACK'' ???

myself and many more want our loved ones back.

holy mad cow, when you don't think it can get any dumber, old dumb and dumber pull through i.e. USDA et al. ...TSS


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Archive Number 20080306.0915 Published Date 06-MAR-2008 Subject PRO/AH> Beef recall - USA (06)

BEEF RECALL - USA (06) ********************** A ProMED-mail post

ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases

[1] Date: Mon 3 Mar 2008 16:30:24 -0600 From: Tim Snider

Re: Beef recall - USA (05) 20080229.0823
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Your comment on the posting above about healthy cows with acute injuries straining credulity [my interpretation of your comment. - Mod.MHJ]

I can personally attest to seeing enough healthy cattle with broken legs, dislocated hips, etc. in abattoir holding pens, vet clinic squeeze tubs, sale barn holding pens, owner pens, etc. A slippery concrete surface, a leg through the slats in a cattle panel followed by the right 'push', or a combination of various and sundry factors allows these unfortunate events to occur. With only 3 years in mixed animal full time practice, I admit my numerator for this field observation is small, but so would be my denominator. I can only guess that potential beef wastage from acutely injured cattle in a large facility would be potentially significant.

-- Timothy Snider, DVM, PhD, DACVP Oklahoma State University USA

[All I can say is that it is a matter of perception. Clinicians deal primarily with numerators and thus the world can seem to be inhabited by the sick and the lame. As an epidemiologist I deal in population denominators, which provides a very different viewpoint. We can agree to differ. But, be that as it may, the current FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) rules have been the following for years:

1. Downers (non-ambulatory animals) cannot and will not enter the food chain. 2. Injured but otherwise ambulatory and healthy animals can enter the food chain after an ante-mortem inspection by a FSIS Public Health Veterinarian. This, of course, is always subject to post-mortem inspection assuming the animal had passed the ante-mortem inspection.

By definition an animal with a broken or badly sprained limb is non-ambulatory. This subthread is now cut.

The California Department of Public Health has listed some 3000 restaurants and other businesses that may have received over the past 2 years some of the Hallmark/Westland Meat Co beef subject for recall. This list may be somewhat inflated as some food distributors say that they gave the CA PH office their entire customer list rather than a specific roster of the restaurants that purchased their recalled beef.

Hallmark / Westland Meat Recall - Retail Distribution (with caveats)


http://dhs.ca.gov/fdb/local/PDF/WestlandRecallRetailDistributionConsolidatedForWeb2-29-08.PDF


plus,

Additional Products Containing Westland Recalled Beef


http://dhs.ca.gov/fdb/local/PDF/AdditionalProductsContainingWestlandRecalledBeef2-29-08.PDF


The good news is that in the short-term there are as yet apparently no ill effects from the distribution of these meats. The bad news is that if a bovine TSE (transmissible spongiform encephalitis) were involved it will be some 5-10 years before any human cases might be seen. One must always be aware of Sherlock Holmes' comment on the difference between seeing and observing. The wide distribution of these meats will confuse future investigations and retrospective studies because of the uncertainty and possibility of a past exposure. As an epidemiologist I am all too aware of the shortcuts taken by my colleagues in ascribing cause. It has definitely muddied the waters. - Mod.MHJ]


****** [2] Date: Sat 1 Mar 2008 Source: The New York Times, Associated Press report [edited]

The Department of Agriculture has suspended at least 2 federal meat inspectors after the largest beef recall in the nation's history, a union head said Friday [29 Feb 2008].

The official, Stan Painter, chairman of the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, said that the department had confirmed that it had placed a veterinarian and a floor inspector from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company in Chino, California, on paid administrative leave. A department spokeswoman said the agency could not comment on the investigation or on personnel matters.

-- Communicated by: ProMED-mail

[see also: Beef recall - USA (05) 20080229.0823 Beef recall - USA (04): Nationwide 20080227.0799 Beef recall - USA (03): CA 20080226.0771 Beef recall - USA (02): (CA) 20080222.0720 Beef recall - USA: (CA), food safety questions 20080218.0651] ...................................mhj/mj/dk

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http://www.promedmail.org/pls/otn/f?p=2400:1001:3740676921442591::NO::F2400_P1001_BACK_PAGE,F2400_P1001_PUB_MAIL_ID:1000,71708



Wednesday, February 27, 2008 BEEF RECALL NATIONWIDE - SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM UPDATE


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


CJD QUESTIONNAIRE


http://cjdquestionnaire.blogspot.com/


Specified Risk Material SRM


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


Beef - Westland/Hallmark Recall OF BEEF WITH DEADSTOCK DOWNER COWS, THE MOST HIGH RISK CATTLE FOR BSE/TSE AKA MAD COW DISEASE

Additional Products Listing 5-20-08


http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Documents/fdb%20eru%20Hmrk%20Addl%20Prod052008.pdf


http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HEALTHINFO/Pages/FDB%20Beef-WestlandHallmarkRecall.aspx


TOTAL DISTRIBUTION LIST


http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Documents/fdb%20eru%20Hmrk%20All%20Dist042008.pdf


ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS CONTAINING RECALLED BEEF


http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Documents/fdb%20eru%20Hmrk%20Addl%20Prod052008.pdf


SEE FULL LIST OF ALL RECALLED SUSPECT DEAD STOCK DOWNER COW PRODUCTS HERE ;


http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HEALTHINFO/Pages/FDB%20Beef-WestlandHallmarkRecall.aspx


Beef - Westland/Hallmark Recall OF BEEF WITH DEADSTOCK DOWNER COWS, THE MOST HIGH RISK CATTLE FOR BSE/TSE AKA MAD COW DISEASE

Additional Products Listing 5-20-08


http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Documents/fdb%20eru%20Hmrk%20Addl%20Prod052008.pdf


http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HEALTHINFO/Pages/FDB%20Beef-WestlandHallmarkRecall.aspx


TOTAL DISTRIBUTION LIST


http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Documents/fdb%20eru%20Hmrk%20All%20Dist042008.pdf


ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS CONTAINING RECALLED BEEF


http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Documents/fdb%20eru%20Hmrk%20Addl%20Prod052008.pdf


SEE FULL LIST OF ALL RECALLED SUSPECT DEAD STOCK DOWNER COW PRODUCTS HERE ;


http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HEALTHINFO/Pages/FDB%20Beef-WestlandHallmarkRecall.aspx



>>>In the papers, the government alleges the meatpacking plant slaughtered and processed downer cows for nearly four years — from January 2004 to September 2007 — <<<



>> 95%) downer or dead dairy cattle and a few horses. Sheep had never been fed.





We believe that these findings may indicate the presence of a previously unrecognized scrapie-like disease in cattle and wish to alert dairy practitioners to this possibility.

snip...

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH ANNUAL WESTERN CONFERENCE FOR FOOD ANIMAL VETERINARY MEDICINE, University of Arizona, March 17-19, 1986



http://web.archive.org/web/20030331063559/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09a/tab01.pdf



http://web.archive.org/web/20030516051623/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09/tab05.pdf




IN CONFIDENCE

PERCEPTIONS OF UNCONVENTIONAL SLOW VIRUS DISEASES OF ANIMALS IN THE USA



http://collections.europarchive.org/tna/20080102193705/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m11b/tab01.pdf




TSS