Suit: Meatpacker used `downer' cows for 4 years TO FEED OUT CHILDREN ALL ACROSS THE NATION, the most high risk for mad cow disease

Suit: Meatpacker used `downer' cows for 4 years TO FEED OUT CHILDREN ALL ACROSS THE NATION, THE MOST HIGH RISK COW FOR MAD COW DISEASE, i.e. DEADSTOCK DOWNER DOWS.


who will follow the children ???



Suit: Meatpacker used `downer' cows for 4 years


By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer

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.

The amended complaint filed late last month in U.S. District Court in Riverside is part of an ongoing civil lawsuit filed by The Humane Society of the United States against the Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.

The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the case with the new complaint after months of additional research and interviews that uncovered the startling new allegations against the now-defunct packing plant. Among them, the company failed to disclose that one of its partners had two felony convictions related to illegal industry practices.

The Humane Society released video in late 2007 showing "downer" cows — animals too weak or sick to walk — being dragged by chains, rammed by forklifts and sprayed with high-pressure water by plant employees who wanted them to stand for processing.

The video sparked the largest beef recall in U.S. history. Officials estimated at the time that 37 million pounds of the 143 million pounds of recalled beef went to school lunch programs, and most of the meat had already been eaten.

Donald W. Hallmark, whom the lawsuit lists as a company partner, told The Associated Press he retired six years ago and had no comment. Calls to a number for another partner, Steve Mendell, rang unanswered Thursday.

The new filing alleges the government paid Westland/Hallmark millions of dollars to which it was not entitled because the company lied about meeting all the conditions for the 140 government contracts it held between 2003 and 2008.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a jury trial. The original filing by the Humane Society sought $150 million.

In the papers, the government alleges the meatpacking plant slaughtered and processed downer cows for nearly four years — from January 2004 to September 2007 — at the average rate of one every six weeks and abused animals daily using chains, forklifts, high-pressure water hoses or electric prods, or by punching and kicking them.

Downer cows pose increased risk for mad cow disease, E. coli and other infections, partly because they typically wallow in feces.

The new complaint also alleges that a partner at Westland/Hallmark, Aaron Magidow, had two felony convictions that were not reported to the government when it awarded the meatpacker's contracts. Magidow, who has since died, was convicted in 1974 of bribing federal meat inspectors and in 1983 for participating in a fraudulent meat buying scheme, the lawsuit said.

The executor of Magidow's estate, which is named as a defendant in the case, said he had no comment.

"I think whatever we have to say will be said in court," said attorney Walter Weiss.

Officials with the Humane Society said the government's filing marked the first time the Justice Department had intervened in a federal false claims case involving the mistreatment of farm animals.

The lawsuit "not only confirms everything that our investigation found, but suggests that it was even more widespread than we had documented," said Jonathan Lovvorn, the Humane Society's chief counsel. "We're concerned by what they uncovered — but not surprised."

San Bernardino County prosecutors charged two of the employees seen on the undercover video. One was sentenced to six months in jail, the other to nine months in jail.


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/09/24/national/a130509D56.DTL&tsp=1



>>>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





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




Saturday, May 2, 2009


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


http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2009/05/us-government-sues-westlandhallmark.html




Thursday, May 1, 2008 DEAD STOCK DOWNER COW BAN i.e. non-ambulatory policy still not changed by USDA May 1, 2008



http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2008/05/dead-stock-downer-cow-ban-ie-non.html




http://stanford.wellsphere.com/cjd-article/usda-certified-h-base-mad-cow-school-lunch-program/641216




Sunday, May 17, 2009


WHO WILL WATCH THE CHILDREN ? SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM FROM DOWNER CATTLE UPDATE



http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2009/05/who-will-watch-children.html




http://downercattle.blogspot.com/



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<<< href="http://madcowfeed.blogspot.com/2009/11/bse-feed-recall-misbranding-of-product.html">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

"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 ???



Sunday, September 6, 2009 MAD COW USA 1997 SECRET VIDEO


http://madcowusda.blogspot.com/2009/09/mad-cow-usa-1997-video.html





U.S.A. HIDING MAD COW DISEASE VICTIMS AS SPORADIC CJD ? see video at bottom




http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2009/07/usa-hiding-mad-cow-disease-victims-as.html






DAMNING TESTIMONY FROM STANLEY PRUSINER THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER ON PRIONS SPEAKING ABOUT ANN VENEMAN




http://maddeer.org/video/embedded/prusinerclip.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




http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2009/08/characteristics-of-established-and.html





Office of Inspector General Semiannual Report to Congress FY 2007 – 2nd Half


Two Texas Companies Sentenced and Fined for Misbranding Meat Products In April 2007, two closely held and related Texas companies pled guilty in Federal court and were sentenced to 12 months of probation and ordered to pay $10,250 in fines for misbranding meat products. One of the companies sold adulterated meat products to a retail store in New Mexico. Additionally, portions of the invoices failed to properly and consistently identify the meat products as being from cattle more than 30 months old at time of slaughter. This information is required to be disclosed because of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow disease”) concerns. No adulterated meat reached consumers.




http://www.usda.gov/oig/webdocs/sarc071212.pdf






Tuesday, July 14, 2009

U.S. Emergency Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Response Plan Summary and BSE Red Book Date: February 14, 2000 at 8:56 am PST

WHERE did we go wrong $$$




http://madcowtesting.blogspot.com/2009/07/us-emergency-bovine-spongiform.html






Sunday, December 28, 2008

MAD COW DISEASE USA DECEMBER 28, 2008 an 8 year review of a failed and flawed policy




http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2008/12/mad-cow-disease-usa-december-28-2008-8.html






Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Mad Cow Disease typical and atypical strains, was there a cover-up ? August 20, 2008




http://bse-atypical.blogspot.com/2008/08/bovine-spongiform-encephalopathy-mad.html





Saturday, June 13, 2009

Monitoring the occurrence of emerging forms of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the United States 2003 revisited 2009



http://cjdusa.blogspot.com/2009/06/monitoring-occurrence-of-emerging-forms.html



Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Characteristics of Established and Proposed Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Variants

Brian S. Appleby, MD; Kristin K. Appleby, MD; Barbara J. Crain, MD, PhD; Chiadi U. Onyike, MD, MHS; Mitchell T. Wallin, MD, MPH; Peter V. Rabins, MD, MPH

Background: The classic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Heidenhain, and Oppenheimer-Brownell variants are sporadic CJD (sCJD) phenotypes frequently described in the literature, but many cases present with neuropsychiatric symptoms, suggesting that there may be additional sCJD phenotypes.Objective: To characterize clinical, diagnostic, and molecular features of 5 sCJD variants.Design: Retrospective analysis.Setting: The Johns Hopkins and Veterans Administration health care systems.Participants: Eighty-eight patients with definite or probable sCJD.Main Outcome Measures: Differences in age at onset, illness progression, diagnostic test results, and molecular subtype.Results: The age at onset differed among sCJD variants (P=.03); the affective variant had the youngest mean age at onset (59.7 years). Survival time (P
.001) and the time to clinical presentation (P=.003) differed among groups. Patients with the classic CJD phenotype had the shortest median survival time from symptom onset (66 days) and those who met criteria for the affective sCJD variant had the longest (421 days) and presented to clinicians significantly later (median time from onset to presentation, 92 days; P=.004). Cerebrospinal fluid analyses were positive for 14-3-3 protein in all of the affective variants, regardless of illness duration. Periodic sharp-wave complexes were not detected on any of the electroencephalography tracings in the Oppenheimer-Brownell group; basal ganglia hyperintensity was not detected on brain magnetic resonance imaging in this group either. All of the Heidenhain variants were of the methionine/ methionine type 1 molecular subtype.Conclusions: The classic CJD phenotype and the Heidenhain, Oppenheimer-Brownell, cognitive, and affective sCJD variants differ by age at disease onset, survival time, and diagnostic test results. Characteristics of these 5 phenotypes are provided to facilitate further clinicopathologic investigation that may lead to more reliable and timely diagnoses of sCJD.Arch Neurol. 2009;66(2):208-215

snip...

COMMENT

snip...

see full text ;



http://creutzfeldt-jakob-disease.blogspot.com/2009/08/characteristics-of-established-and.html






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