Members of the U.S. Congress are considering changes in the nation’s food safety set-up, in the wake of the largest-ever recall of meat products. The USDA recently recalled 143 million pounds of beef, of which some 55 million pounds were estimated to have gone to USDA nutrition programs and public school lunches.

The recall order covers beef produced as far back as Feb. 1, 2006. USDA officials believe the bulk of the meat has already been consumed and there have not been any illnesses reported to-date.

The recall was the department’s reaction three weeks after the release of an undercover video by the Humane Society of the United States which showed workers at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing plant in Chino, California, abusing and maltreating sick/injured cows unable to stand on their own. Safety Issues reported on this incident in the article “Do Abused Cows Yield Unsafe Products?”

Sick animals and so-called ‘downer cows’ that cannot walk or stand on their own feet are barred from use in food for human consumption or use as feed ingredients for animals that may later get into the food supply for humans. Inability to walk is considered a telltale symptom of mad-cow disease, which can lead to the rare but potentially life-threatening disease of the brain in humans.

A House committee that studies food safety issues has conducted hearings on the recall and related food safety issues. But a U.S. Congressman from Connecticut has criticized the USDA for potentially exposing school children to danger because of its alleged lax inspection procedures on meat packing operations like the Chino plant.

In addition, the Congressman has questioned the propriety of reposing in one department the two objectives of promoting agricultural products and looking after human nutrition. The legislator believes the two missions may be conflicting objectives and this could compromise the safety of the nation’s food supply.

The Congressman believes that food safety is important enough to justify having a single agency to oversee it, instead of having an agency that is tasked with promoting a food product, selling the same food product, and then ? almost as an afterthought ? dealing with the system to keep food safe.

The food-safety network in the U.S. is a patchwork of century-old laws and regulations. There have been many attempts to overhaul this system, but these have bogged down, partly due to the piecemeal nature of the regulations and partly because of resistance from powerful farm and food-industry lobbies.

The USDA often depends heavily on self-regulation by the industry and voluntary reporting by companies. However, businesses do not always follow rules.

Safety Tip:

• Buy beef only from stores that you trust.

• Consider reducing amount of beef in your diet. Many consumers are turning vegetarian and vegan, in reaction to the spate of meat recalls.

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