UDSA Fails to Enforce Beef Regulations

UDSA Fails to Enforce Beef Regulations Restaurant News: Industry’s Beef with Meat Recall Centers on USDA Inability to Enforce Regulations By Elissa Elan (March 10, 2008) Foodservice industry experts are calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to step up its food safety efforts after federal inspection regulations were flouted at a California meat processing plant last month, resulting in the largest beef recall in U.S. history and dealing a blow to consumers’ confidence in the food supply. The Humane Society of the United States spurred a national recall of beef after the nonprofit group’s video showed “downer” cattle being prodded to stand so they could be processed for human consumption. The voluntary recall Feb. 17 of 143 million pounds of beef processed at Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino, Calif., followed an undercover investigation by the nonprofit Humane Society of the United States that found plant workers and government inspectors allowing downer cows—those too sick or injured to stand on their own before being killed—to be processed for human consumption, contrary to rule intended to protect against the transmission of mad cow disease. Officials said the beef had been in circulation since 2006 but posed little threat to human safety. Nonetheless, the recall affected thousands of foodservice operators. California state officials in late February released a list of nearly 3,000 restaurants and businesses in that state alone that are believed to have received the recalled beef. Included on the list were hundreds of local restaurants and units of national and regional chains, including Hooter’s, Sizzler, Bob’s Big Boy, Marie Callender’s and Norm’s restaurants. In addition, USDA officials speculated that 50 million pounds of the recalled beef was shipped to 36 different states for use in the National School Lunch Program. Shortly after the recall, the Jack in the Box and In-N-Out Burger chains announced that they would no longer use meat from the plant. “I am really not impressed with the USDA’s communication on this,” said Steve Grover, vice president of food safety, quality assurance and regulatory compliance for Miami-based Burger King Corp., who noted that he had no concern about the safety of BK’s products. “It’s been very conflicting and very difficult to get the full story out of them quickly. “How does this happen at a fully licensed operation with USDA inspectors and a veterinarian on site? If they need more staff, then let’s get more staff in the plants. This was a fully licensed, approved facility and major supplier to the school lunch program. If this was going on for as long as the USDA thinks it was, how could the inspector or the vet not see this going on? “I think they need to have some answers and let the consumers and the industry know what they’re going to do going forward. We don’t want to hear about this two years after the fact.” The cost of the recall to the industry will be extreme, said Mike Dunn, director of quality assurance for Sodexho U.S.A., the on-site foodservice conglomerate based in Gaithersburg, Md. “I think a lot of food is going to be destroyed as a result of this and the cost will be exorbitant,” he said. “I couldn’t venture a guess as to how many pounds of food will be destroyed, but I think it will be in the hundreds of millions when all is said and done. And should it all be destroyed? I’m just not sure. I don’t believe there is a risk of mad cow, or BSE, with this product.” Dunn said employees were instructed how to dispose of the meat by both Sodexho and its distributors. He added that while the first wave of the recall is over, he is concerned about secondary recalls of processed products containing the beef as an ingredient. “What we have, as I understand it, is about 50 million pounds that went into the school lunch program,” Dunn said. “That leaves us with roughly 90 million pounds out there in the world somewhere, and this is where I believe the secondary recalls begin to take place.” Please read the full article at Restaurant News Return to Karn Meats Industry News Return to Karn Meats Home Page