080215 Beef Recall Rattles Faith in U.S. Food Supply

The news last week that a California meat processor recalled 143 million pounds of beef -- the largest recall in U.S. history -- was enough to turn the tummies of die-hard carnivores.

Travis Johnson, who describes himself as "a big steak guy," says the recall by Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. "definitely worries me."

"It's going to make me think twice," the 26-year-old Wilmington resident said.

The recall came after the Humane Society of the United States released a jarring video of workers at a Westland/Hallmark plant using prods and water hoses to rouse so-called "downer cattle" that were unable to stand upright, a requirement for slaughter.

"That's enough to unsettle your stomach," said Jennifer Pierce, of Wilmington.

The video and recall leave Pierce, 38, with little faith in a system that is supposed to protect Americans.

"Our government is supposed to be inspecting these places," Price says. "How does this meat pass?"

It's times like this that make consumers ask: just exactly where does that chuck roast come from?

Most beef products come from a small number of big, national producers that supply supermarket chains. Each chain has its own contracts with suppliers, whose identity they usually guard closely for contractual reasons.

Agriculture officials are quick to point out that there was no evidence of E. coli or other contamination and that the Westland/Hallmark recall was a Class II recall, which means there was a minimal health risk to the public. A Class I recall is for conditions that pose a more serious health risk, such as outbreaks of E. coli or salmonella.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the beef industry have tried to reassure the public.

USDA maintains a system of "multiple hurdles that protect the food supply" and consumers can count on "a safe and wholesome product," said Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Since 2004, Eamich said, USDA inspectors have found only two cases of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, or "mad cow" disease, among 850,000 cattle tested, "so we know the risk is extremely low," she said.

The American Meat Institute, which represents the nation's beef producers, reaffirmed its members operate under strict federal oversight.

"Claims that we are not regulated heavily enough or that inspection oversight is lacking are simply outrageous," the trade group said in a statement outlining its position.

"We will not let a video from what appears to have been a tragic anomaly stand as the poster child for our industry," the group said.

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. Inc., whose retail chains include Super Fresh, gets most of its beef from National Beef in Kansas City, Mo., said Lauren La Bruno, an A&P spokeswoman. None of the company's stores were affected by the recent Westland/Hallmark recall, La Bruno said.

Giant Food gets its meat from different suppliers, which Jamie Miller, a company spokesman, declined to identify, citing contractual agreements.

Industry consolidation has resulted in a relative handful of big beef processors producing the beef that winds up on American dinner tables, said Sue Snider, a professor of animal and food science at the University of Delaware.

Because of that consolidation, when recalls occur, they tend to be large in size, said Snider, a food safety expert.

Snider says the safeguards are adequate to protect the public.

"We have a good system in place," she said. "There's always a chance that you have employees who don't follow the rules and you'll have a problem."

Delaware public schools also get their beef from a variety of different sources.

The schools obtain their beef in one of two ways, said Huida Russell, an education associate with the Delaware Department of Education's child nutrition program -- directly from USDA's Food Commodity Distribution Program or by purchasing beef from commercial food distributors such as Sysco Corp. or US Foodservice.

Either way, Russell said, there's no one single processor that supplies either the USDA program or the commercial food distributors, making it difficult to know where the beef was slaughtered and prepared.

"We get our meat from multiple suppliers," said Pam Gouge, supervisor of school nutrition for the Brandywine School District. About 80 percent of the district's food purchases come through US Foodservice and individual vendors, she said. The remainder is through the USDA program, a percentage the district would like to increase because the prices in the federal program tend to be lower, Gouge said.

Claymont Elementary School in the Brandywine district got some of its beef from Westland/Hallmark, but there were no reports of children being sickened by the beef, the district said.

No schools in the Christina School District received the recalled beef, a district spokeswoman said.

Multiple safeguards

The current system incorporates multiple inspections by USDA along the process from slaughterhouse to supermarket.

USDA's authority starts at the slaughterhouse, where inspectors examine the live cattle to exclude "downer cattle" that are too sick to stand. Once the cattle are slaughtered, inspectors examine the carcasses, before the meat is trimmed off, to look for signs of disease.

There are also multiple points of inspection once the meat moves to the processing plant. Inspectors there monitor food safety practices, including making sure the cow's brain, internal organs and spinal column, which could be sources of disease, are separated from the meat that is processed.

Inspectors also test beef samples to check for pathogens such as E. coli, salmonella and Listeria.

Some supermarket chains pay for independent inspectors to oversee the operations of the suppliers they purchase beef from, said Karen Brown, a senior vice president at the Food Marketing Institute, which represents the nation's food retailers.

"Consumers certainly should have confidence in the foods they eat," Brown said.

Inspection system dates to 1900s

Not everyone feels that the current system is working, however.

The Westland/Hallmark recall points out the need to modernize a food inspection system that dates back to the early 1900s, says Sarah Klein, a staff attorney with the food safety program at the Center for the Study of Science in the Public Interest.

"It is finally clear that the food safety system in this country has to be remade, and fully funded, so that a new system doesn't fall prey to the same woeful under-funding the current system suffers from," Klein said.

Klein says a number of changes are needed, including funding for more USDA inspectors and the creation of a single federal agency with sole responsibility for the safety of all foods produced in, or imported into, the United States.

Under the current system, USDA has responsibility for meat, poultry and some kinds of eggs, while the Food and Drug Administration oversees all other foods.

Klein says the overhaul needs to address a conflict inherent in USDA's dual missions. While the agency regulates safety, it also promotes the interests of U.S. agriculture at home and overseas.

That tension, Klein said, makes it hard for the agency to "honestly and forthrightly express alarm" to consumers about recalls and other food concerns.

Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America, says the current system needs a comprehensive update. "Everything that's been done has been reactionary and plugging holes," Waldrop said. "It's not looking at how to create a better system."

Several bills pending in Congress would reform the current inspection process.

The Food Safety Act of 2007 would create a single federal agency to oversee food safety. A pair of bills sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., would establish a system to track beef from the farm to the supermarket and give the federal government the right to mandate food recalls.

Still, some Delaware consumers, like Travis Johnson, say there's a lot of work to be done to win back their confidence.

Johnson calls the current safety issues "borderline appalling."

"I think we probably need to heighten security a bit," he said.

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