Saturday, May 2, 2009

U.S. GOVERNMENT SUES WESTLAND/HALLMARK MEAT OVER USDA CERTIFIED DEADSTOCK DOWNER COW SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, May 1, 2009 WWW.USDOJ.GOVCIV (202) 514-2007 TDD (202) 514-1888

U.S. Intervenes in Suit Against Former Beef Suppliers to National School Lunch Program Inhumane Treatment and Slaughter of Disabled, Non-Ambulatory Cattle at Issue WASHINGTON -- The United States has intervened in a civil lawsuit against two former suppliers to the National School Lunch Program – Hallmark Meat Packing Company and Westland Meat Company Inc. – for submitting false and fraudulent claims to the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Justice Department announced today. All ground beef containing defendants’ products was recalled by USDA as of Feb. 16, 2008, and defendants no longer supply beef to the National School Lunch Program or AMS.

The National School Lunch Program is a federally-assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. The program, established under the National School Lunch Act in 1946, provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day.

The suit was originally filed by the Humane Society of the United States under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA). In its complaint, the Humane Society alleges that defendants knowingly and falsely represented to AMS that all cattle at their slaughtering facility are humanely handled in accordance with federal regulations and that no meat from disabled, non-ambulatory cattle was included in AMS’ purchases.

"The alleged misrepresentations by Hallmark and Westland could have impacted the health of many of our nation’s most vulnerable citizens--our schoolchildren," said Tony West, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. "Our intervention in this case demonstrates how seriously we will pursue allegations such as these."

Under qui tam statute, a private party, known as a "relator," can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of the recovery. Under the FCA, the government is entitled to treble damages plus civil penalties ranging from $5,500 to $11,000 per violation.

The Department’s Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California will pursue the case. The government plans to file an amended complaint. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of Inspector General investigated the matter.

###

09-426


http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/May/09-civ-426.html



DID YOUR CHILD CONSUME SOME OF THESE DEAD STOCK DOWNER COWS, THE MOST HIGH RISK FOR MAD COW DISEASE ???

you can check and see here ;


http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/safety/pdf/Hallmark-Westland_byState.pdf



http://downercattle.blogspot.com/





Friday, May. 01, 2009

US gov. sues So Cal slaughterhouse over beef recall

By DAISY NGUYEN - Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES -- The federal government said Friday it is suing a Southern California slaughterhouse whose workers were caught on videotape abusing cattle, leading to the nation's biggest beef recall last year.

The Department of Justice is intervening in the Humane Society of the United States' lawsuit against Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.

The federal lawsuit seeks $150 million in taxpayer money awarded to the company during a five-year period.

The lawsuit claims the slaughterhouse, at one time the second largest supplier of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program, fraudulently claimed that all cattle slaughtered at the plant were handled humanely and that no meat from so-called "downer" cows entered the food supply.

However, undercover video released by the Humane Society showed workers dragging cows too sick or injured to stand with chains, shocking them with electric prods and shooting streams of water in their faces. The video led to the February 2008 recall of 143 million pounds of beef out of fear downer cattle, which pose a greater risk of illnesses such as mad cow disease, entered the food supply.

The Humane Society filed the lawsuit the same month of the recall.

By law, the lawsuit was kept under seal until this week when the government, which conducted its own investigation, intervened.

"The alleged misrepresentations by Hallmark and Westland could have impacted the health of many of our nation's most vulnerable citizens - our schoolchildren," said Tony West, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's civil division. "Our intervention in this case demonstrates how seriously we will pursue allegations such as these."

The slaughterhouse closed after the recall. The company's phone line was disconnected and an e-mail message to company president Steve Mendell was not immediately returned Friday night.

The lawsuit was filed under the False Claims Act, which allows private citizens to file a lawsuit on behalf of the U.S. government to recover damages and civil penalties. The government plans to file an amended lawsuit in the case.

"We commend the U.S. Department of Justice for joining (us) in seeking to hold federal meat suppliers accountable when they failed to provide humane treatment of animals in accordance with federal law," said Jonathan Lovvorn, chief counsel for the Humane Society.



http://www.modbee.com/state/story/687618.html



Saturday, March 14, 2009


Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Announces Final Rule for Handling of Non-Ambulatory Cattle



http://www.usda.gov/2009/03/0060.xml



THANK GOD ! after years and years of exposing, especially our children with dead stock downer cows, from the USDA et al dead stock downer cow school lunch program, finally, some common sense comes forth. ...TSS


DEADSTOCK DOWNER CATTLE THE MOST HIGH RISK FOR MAD COW DISEASE, and the USDA et al have been force feeding your children this for years.

who will monitor our children in the years, decades to come for CJD aka mad cow disease ???


SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM FROM DOWNER CATTLE UPDATE IS THERE A SCRAPIE-LIKE DISEASE IN CATTLE ?


In April of 1985, a mink rancher in Wisconsin reported a debilitating neurologic disease in his herd which we diagnosed as TME by histopathologic findings confirmed by experimental transmission to mink and squirrel monkeys. The rancher was a ''dead stock'' feeder using mostly (>95%) downer or dead dairy cattle and a few horses. She 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



IS THERE A SCRAPIE-LIKE DISEASE IN CATTLE ?

YOU BET THERE IS, AND HAS BEEN, AND WE BEEN FEEDING THE MOST HIGH RISK I.E. DEAD STOCK DOWNER COWS TO OUR CHILDREN FOR DECADES, who will follow these children for human TSE from mad cow disease here in the USA in the years, decades to come, and how many will they expose from the 'pass it forward' friendly fire modes ???



http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/12/evaluation-of-fsis-management-controls.html



http://downercattle.blogspot.com/



Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Atypical BSE North America Update February 2009 Both of the BSE cases ascertained in the US native-born cattle were atypical cases (H-type), which contributed to the initial ambiguity of the diagnosis. 174, 185 In Canada, there have been 2 atypical BSE cases in addition to the 14 cases of the classic UK strain of BSE2: one was the H-type, and the other was of the L-type.198 snip...end source : Enhanced Abstract Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association January 1, 2009, Vol. 234, No. 1, Pages 59-72 Bovine spongiform encephalopathy Jane L. Harman, DVM, PhD; Christopher J. Silva, PhD



http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/ref/10.2460/javma.234.1.59




Atypical BSE North America Update February 2009



http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2009/02/atypical-bse-north-america-update.html


FNS All Regions Affected School Food Authorities By State United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service National School Lunch Program March 24, 2008 School Food Authorities Affected by Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. Beef Recall February 2006 – February 2008

http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/safety/Hallmark-Westland_byState.pdf



Approximately 50.3 million pounds of the beef recalled by HallmarkNVestland went to federal nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program, and of those 50.3 million pounds, about 19.6 million pounds had already been consumed at the time the recall was issued. Release No. 0054.08, USDA, Transcript of Technical Briefing - HallmarldWestland Meat Packing Company (Feb. 21, 2008).

9. HSUS members that consume meat products, including beef products, are concerned about eating adulterated meat products and the health risks associated with such adulterated meat. Specifically, they are concerned that downed cattle are at an increased risk for harboring and transmitting BSE prions and other pathogens. The consumption of meat products derived from BSE-infected cattle is believed to cause a human neurological disease known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease ("vCJD"). The disease is progressive, invariably fatal, and there is no known effective treatment or cure. Downed cattle may also be at higher risk for harboring other foodborne transmissible pathogens, including E. coli 0157:H7, Salmonella, and anthrax. By allowing downed cattle to enter the food supply, USDA's regulatory loophole injures members of The HSUS by placing them at an increased risk of contracting these food-borne illnesses each time they eat beef. 10. Members of The HSUS are also concerned about the meat products provided to their children through the National School Lunch Program. More than 31 million school children receive lunches through the program each school day. To assist states in providing healthful, low-cost or free meals, USDA provides states with various commodities including ground beef. As evidenced by the HallmarkNVestland investigation and recall, the potential for downed animals to make their way into the National School Lunch Program is neither speculative nor hypothetical.

http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/FDA/hsus-v-schafer-usda-complaint.pdf



United States of America Ex rel. The Humane Society of the United States v. Hallmark Meat Packing Company, Westland Meat Company Inc. (Downed animal abuse/government fraud)

Court or Agency: United States District Court for the Central District of California Plaintiff(s): United States of America Ex rel. The Humane Society of the United States Defendant: Hallmark Meat Packing Company, Westland Meat Company Inc. HSUS Counsel: Peter J. Petersan, Leana Stormont Outside Counsel: Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP Status: In Briefing

Federal court action under the False Claims Act alleging that Westland/Hallmark defrauded the federal government by violating the terms of its school lunch program contracts requiring the humane handling of animals. The lawsuit was the result of an investigation by The HSUS which exposed the facility's mistreatment of animals too sick or injured to walk and led to the largest meat recall in the nation’s history.


http://www.hsus.org/in_the_courts/docket/us_hallmark.html



http://www.law.gmu.edu/assets/files/academics/schedule/2009/fall/HENRYGREEN_AnimalLaw20090818.pdf



http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/dept_of_justice_hallmark_050409.html



FOIA


http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/FOIA_Requests_0308.pdf



"California Firm Recalls Beef Products". USDA. February 17, 2008.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Recall_005-2008_Release.pdf



AP (February 17, 2008). "USDA recalls 143 million pounds of beef". MSNBC.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23212514/



"Statement by Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer Regarding Animal Cruelty Charges Filed Against Employees at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company". USDA. February 15, 2008.

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?contentidonly=true&contentid=2008/02/0044.xml



"USDA Q&A". USDA. February 19, 2008.

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=Recall_Information.xml



The Case is captioned as United States of America ex rel. The Humane Society of the United States v. Hallmark Meat Packing Company; Westland Meat Company, Inc.



http://www.hsus.org/farm/news/ournews/dept_of_justice_hallmark_050409.html



http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ362/hallam/NewspaperArticles/DownerCows.pdf



Thursday, September 24, 2009

(09-24) 15:00 PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) --

A Southern California meatpacking plant that supplied beef to the nation's school lunch program slaughtered stumbling, potentially contaminated cows for four years before undercover video of animal abuse prompted a massive beef recall, federal court filings say...


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2009/09/suit-meatpacker-used-downer-cows-for-4.html



also ;

http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/24601-07-KC.pdf



>>>USDA officials cited three other interlocking safeguards that protect the public even if other safeguards, such as ante-mortem inspection, should fail; these safeguards are the removal of Specified Risk Materials (SRM),5 BSE surveillance testing, and the feed ban.6 Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA),7<<< http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2009/11/bse-feed-recall-misbranding-of-product.html


Friday, September 4, 2009


FOIA REQUEST ON FEED RECALL PRODUCT 429,128 lbs. feed for ruminant animals may have been contaminated with prohibited material Recall # V-258-2009


http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2009/09/foia-request-on-feed-recall-product.html


Saturday, August 29, 2009


FOIA REQUEST FEED RECALL 2009 Product may have contained prohibited materials Bulk Whole Barley, Recall # V-256-2009


http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2009/08/foia-request-feed-recall-2009-product.html


2009 UPDATE ON ALABAMA AND TEXAS MAD COWS 2005 and 2006


http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2006/08/bse-atypical-texas-and-alabama-update.html



PAUL BROWN CDC PRION SCIENTIST


"Everything they did on the Texas cow makes everything USDA did before 2005 suspect," Brown said. ...snip...end


http://www.upi.com/ConsumerHealthDaily/view.php?StoryID=20060315-055557-1284r



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://madcowtesting.blogspot.com/


see full text sporadic CJD the big lie;


http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0705&L=sanet-mg&T=0&F=&S=&P=135027


PLUS

http://cjdmadcowbaseoct2007.blogspot.com/2008/07/novel-human-disease-with-abnormal-prion.html


Sunday, August 10, 2008

A New Prionopathy OR more of the same old BSe and sporadic CJD


http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2008/08/new-prionopathy-or-more-of-same-old-bse.html


HUMAN and ANIMAL TSE Classifications i.e. mad cow disease and the UKBSEnvCJD only theory


http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/contentStreamer?objectId=090000648027c28e&disposition=attachment&contentType=pdf


AS I SAID BEFORE, WHO WATCH THE CHILDREN FOR CJD FOR THE NEXT 5 DECADES ???

Thursday, April 30, 2009

FDA Issues Final Guidance for Renderers on Substances Prohibited From Use in Animal Food or Feed CVM Update Back April 30, 2009


http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2009/04/fda-issues-final-guidance-for-renderers.html



April 20, 2009


National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center Cases Examined1 (December 31, 2008)

Year Total Referrals2 Prion Disease Sporadic Familial Iatrogenic vCJD 1996 & earlier 42 32 28 4 0 0 1997 115 68 59 9 0 0 1998 93 53 45 7 1 0 1999 115 69 61 8 0 0 2000 151 103 89 14 0 0 2001 210 118 108 9 0 0 2002 258 147 123 22 2 0 2003 273 176 135 41 0 0 2004 335 184 162 21 0 13 2005 346 193 154 38 1 0 2006 380 192 159 32 0 14 2007 370 212 185 26 0 0 2008 383 228 182 23 0 0 TOTAL 30715 17756 1490 254 4 2 1 Listed based on the year of death or, if not available, on year of referral; 2 Cases with suspected prion disease for which brain tissue and/or blood (in familial cases) were submitted; 3 Disease acquired in the United Kingdom; 4 Disease acquired in Saudi Arabia; 5 Includes 20 cases in which the diagnosis is pending, and 17 inconclusive cases; 6 Includes 25 cases with type determination pending in which the diagnosis of vCJD has been excluded. Rev 2/13/09 National



http://www.cjdsurveillance.com/pdf/case-table.pdf



http://www.cjdsurveillance.com/resources-casereport.html



http://www.aan.com/news/?event=read&article_id=4397&page=72.45.45




>>*5 Includes 20 cases in which the diagnosis is pending, and 17 inconclusive cases; *6 Includes 25 cases with type determination pending in which the diagnosis of vCJD has been excluded.<< http://prionunitusaupdate2008.blogspot.com/2009/04/r-calf-and-usa-mad-cow-problem-dont.html



snip... SEE FULL TEXT BELOW !


Monday, April 20, 2009 National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center Cases Examined1 (December 31, 2008)


http://prionunitusaupdate2008.blogspot.com/2009/04/national-prion-disease-pathology.html




Friday, November 30, 2007

CJD QUESTIONNAIRE USA CWRU AND CJD FOUNDATION

snip...

i am reminded of a few things deep throat told me years ago;


=================================================2001


The most frightening thing I have read all day is the report of Gambetti's finding of a new strain of sporadic cjd in young people......... Dear God, what in the name of all that is holy is that!!! If the US has different strains of scrapie..... why???? than the UK... then would the same mechanisms that make different strains of scrapie here make different strains of BSE... if the patterns are different in sheep and mice for scrapie..... could not the BSE be different in the cattle, in the mink, in the humans....... I really think the slides or tissues and everything from these young people with the new strain of sporadic cjd should be put up to be analyzed by many, many experts in cjd........ bse..... scrapie


Scrape the damn slide and put it into mice..... wait..... chop up the mouse brain and and spinal cord........ put into some more mice..... dammit amplify the thing and start the damned research..... This is NOT rocket science... we need to use what we know and get off our butts and move.... the whining about how long everything takes..... well it takes a whole lot longer if you whine for a year and then start the research!!!


Not sure where I read this but it was a recent press release or something like that: I thought I would fall out of my chair when I read about how there was no worry about infectivity from a histopath slide or tissues because they are preserved in formic acid, or formalin or formaldehyde..... for God's sake........ Ask any pathologist in the UK what the brain tissues in the formalin looks like after a year....... it is a big fat sponge... the agent continues to eat the brain ...... you can't make slides anymore because the agent has never stopped........ and the old slides that are stained with Hemolysin and Eosin...... they get holier and holier and degenerate and continue... what you looked at 6 months ago is not there........ Gambetti better be photographing every damned thing he is looking at.....


Okay, you need to know. You don't need to pass it on as nothing will come of it and there is not a damned thing anyone can do about it. Don't even hint at it as it will be denied and laughed at.......... USDA is gonna do as little as possible until there is actually a human case in the USA of the nvcjd........ if you want to move this thing along and shake the earth.... then we gotta get the victims families to make sure whoever is doing the autopsy is credible, trustworthy, and a saint with the courage of Joan of Arc........ I am not kidding!!!! so, unless we get a human death from EXACTLY the same form with EXACTLY the same histopath lesions as seen in the UK nvcjd........ forget any action........ it is ALL gonna be sporadic!!! And, if there is a case....... there is gonna be every effort to link it to international travel, international food, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. They will go so far as to find out if a sex partner had ever traveled to the UK/europe, etc. etc. .... It is gonna be a long, lonely, dangerous twisted journey to the truth. They have all the cards, all the money, and are willing to threaten and carry out those threats.... and this may be their biggest downfall...


Thanks as always for your help. (Recently had a very startling revelation from a rather senior person in government here.......... knocked me out of my chair........ you must keep pushing. If I was a power person.... I would be demanding that there be at least a million bovine tested as soon as possible and agressively seeking this disease. The big players are coming out of the wood work as there is money to be made!!!


In short: "FIRE AT WILL"!!! for the very dumb.... who's "will"! "Will be the burden to bare if there is any coverup!"


again it was said years ago and it should be taken seriously.... BSE will NEVER be found in the US!


As for the BSE conference call... I think you did agreat service to freedom of information and making some people feign integrity... I find it scary to see that most of the "experts" are employed by the federal government or are supported on the "teat" of federal funds. A scary picture! I hope there is a confidential panel organized by the new government to really investigate this thing.


You need to watch your back........ but keep picking at them....... like a buzzard to the bone... you just may get to the truth!!! (You probably have more support than you know. Too many people are afraid to show you or let anyone else know. I have heard a few things myself... you ask the questions that everyone else is too afraid to ask.)


================================================


greetings again voice,

then i remind everyone to read this;

'As implied in the Inset 25 we must not assume that transmission of BSE to other species will invariably present pathology typical of a scrapie-like disease.'




http://web.archive.org/web/20010305222642/www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/yb/1991/01/04004001.pdf



CWRU CJD QUESTIONNAIRE HISTORY



http://cjdquestionnaire.blogspot.com/



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

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