Beef Sold At Sam's Club Being Recalled Wow. what does 850,000 pounds of contaminated beef look like? Don't ask. They just increased the number to 1,084,384 pounds because the meat may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
Think that is a fluke? Hold that thought.
The Cargill recall comes on the heels of Elizabeth, N.J.-based Topps Meat Co.'s recall of 21.7 million pounds of ground beef amid E. coli concerns. The recall - the second-largest beef recall in U.S. history - caused Topps on Friday to announce that it's going out of business.
It ain't just beef contaminated with E. Coli O157:H7.
As there is a raised risk of E. coli O157:H7 contamination of 414,000 cases of pizza products with pepperoni toppings, the makers, General Mills, has announced a voluntary recall of said pizzas.
Here's the kicker....
USDA spokeswoman Sharon Randle said Saturday that the Cargill and Topps cases are not related. Really......?!?!?!!!
Two staples of American cuisine, the burger and the pizza, are now a threat to our safety. I guess they'll be changing slogans to things like: "Beef... it's what Americans eat to get thinner." or "It's not DiGiorno...it's deadly!" [hat tip to Chappurado]
How about this for a relationship:
Meat Inspection:
A) The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) budget calls for $139 million of the funding for meat inspection to come from "user fees" paid by the meat industry at plants operating more than eight hours a day. Allowing the industry to fund the regulators who oversee them sets a dangerous precedent and sets the stage for conditions that could compromise the effectiveness of inspectors. [emphasis added] In fact, the USDA has "de-listed" plants in other countries from being eligible to export to the United States because the industry funds their government meat inspection programs.
Wow... a $139 MILLION dollars? That's a lot of money in America. Of course, it won't get you through the morning in Iraq, but hey. Priorities...priorities....
Now admittedly, that budget summary came from the National Farm Family Coalition, which is a lobbying group with particular interests. However, recall the problems FDA has had with enforcing safety standards upon industry? A lot of people blame PDUFA (pronounced "padoofah") for that. That is the Prescription Drug User Fee Act which....wait for it....
The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), first enacted in 1992 and revised in 1997 and 2002, is a program under which the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry pays certain "user fees" to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In exchange for these fees, the FDA agreed, via correspondence with Congress, to a set of performance standards intended to reduce the approval time for New Drug Applications (NDA) and Biological License Applications (BLA). [emphasis added]
So there you have it, foxes pay for the farmer to watch the chicken coop. In a perfect world, that might work, but when the party in power refers to itself as The Corrupt Bastards Club we are not living in a perfect world, unless you think institutionalized conflicts of interest are a perfect solution to what ails you.
Over a hundred years ago, Teddy Roosevelt was so outraged to learn about the unsanitary conditions at the Chicago meat packing plants, he fought for the passage of laws that became known as The Pure Food and Drug Acts. These led to the creation of government watchdogs so Americans wouldn't have to worry about what was hitting their table.
Of course, that was during the turn of the century, when "Trust Busting" was the response of representative government to the growing strength of corporate cartels. A Republican was in the White House and Progressives were the majority in Congress. Faced with the unbridled greed of Robber Barons, ordinary people realized that government was the only effective counterbalance to laissez fair capitalism.
A hundred years later, we find ourselves with a Republican in the White House and Democrats (nominally) the majority in Congress. But that's where the parallels end. Contemplating the Incumbent Party's current crop of corrupt corporate sockpuppets, I think we need to revise our definition for "Trust Busting."
Bon appetite.