USDA recalls 143 million pounds of beef - More health news - MSNBC.com

I'm sure many of you have heard by now about the beef recall due to the butchering and sale of meat from downer cows. As an animal lover (NOT an animal rights activist however) this is beyond disturbing. However, the fact that really pissed me off was the fact that this meat was largely bought by the government for school lunches! How this can happen in an industrialized nation like America is simply disgusting. And the simple reason for it is not enough man power. The USDA and FDA have both had to endure massive lay offs due to decreased funding so not as many inspections are taking place. Meanwhile we're worried about global warming, the war(s) on terror, and building a frickin wall across the US/Mexico border while our children are eating meat that's not fit for human consumption!?! What is this?

It was in our local schools here in New Mexico! The video was horrid....nothing should be treated like that. Moving already dead animals the way they were would have seemed cruel, but those poor cows were alive!!! And likely only down BECAUSE of the way they were being handled. I think the meat packers need to be put in a room and rounded up with fork lifts and drug around.

I say this and I can honestly say----- I DO NOT LIKE COWS!!!! We run cows--raise 'em and sell 'em. I don't like them, they are a lot of work, they have personality----some are sneaky! Some are mean! But none of them deserve being treated the way those were.

It makes me sick to think what all our kids school lunches are exposed to......

Kat

Jack, I really don't think it is a widespread illness that put the cows down....and might result in a following illness by ingestion.

I think the cows were simply downed by the way they were being herded and packed into small areas.

Cows will step on one another and cause themselves to fall if they crowd, in a stampede fashion. They are big and clumsy and have relatively small "feet" for balancing a big body--when something frightens them, whether it by a coyote in the wild, or a crazed man with a shovel, they look at him, keeping him in view and try to run away. When they hit one another or a wall or something and go down--the other cows just increase the problem especially if it is overcrowded.

They used to lose cows to the same type of thing in rail cars, a few in each car would always go down and be trampled by the other cattle.

But since there is no way to know whether a cow went down due to illness or injury per se, there is the downed cow elimination factor.

I live in rural New Mexico, and every one of our schools in the district had received this meat that is recalled---and most of it had not been used, some had though---and no resulting illnesses reported.

Does make me wonder about the packing companies adherance to other laws though.....sanitation, cleanliness in preparation...disposal...makes my stomach turn to think of the possiblities.

Kat

Does make me wonder about the packing companies adherance to other laws though.....sanitation, cleanliness in preparation...disposal...makes my stomach turn to think of the possiblities.

Kat

Have you seen the movie "Fast food Nation"? The plot is essentially what you question Kat - and it's very disturbing.

I have 2 cows that are "spooked" easily ... but will charge back at my Heeler when she's trying to get them from one part of the property to the other...Other than that, they are great lawn mowers, and like to be hand fed apples.

How can the government do this? The government does not test everything for safety. This has been proven with the food we eat and the toys we give our children - well, basically everything we ingest, touch, or look at! You, the consumer, have to educate yourself on what is the best to eat (organic) and what is not (everything else). Don't trust the government to make sure everything that is on the shelf to consume is good for you. It's not.

I think that is the point made in the movie mentioned----to show us what can and does happen in food preparation.

The thing with saying nothing is safe but organic---unless you grow it yourself---it is still something you never know about. There was an item in the news last summer, about a farmers market in Pueblo Colorado that there was a woman there selling fresh vegetables, and her neighbor outed her---she also ran a dog kennel, and fertilized the things she grew with fresh dog poo.......

Unless you grow it yourself you take a chance......how big a chance does differ I agree--------but you still never know.

There are inspection laws in place though that should have caught this serious animal cruelty long before they did. There should have been someone there who had enough moral fortitude to have exposed it long ago.

Kat

Contamination is almost always going to be the result of handling and human error or greed. Organic or not, agriculture and meat production are hard work, and low wages for the most part. I'm glad to see that the Humane Society video got that meat recalled, and hopefully the production at that plant will be safer.

I enjoy eating seasonally and locally. I try to buy organic or natural when I can. I do garden, and eat an insane amount of fresh tomatoes all summer long. But "natural" and "organic" and "local" aren't affordable for the majority of Americans. Which sucks. The cheapest foods are the very foods that keep us the fattest.

But "natural" and "organic" and "local" aren't affordable for the majority of Americans. Which sucks. The cheapest foods are the very foods that keep us the fattest.

Yes, this ticks me off. Why should people who can't afford it have to eat conventional food? How long will it take before the government will say no more to using harmful products (well, I can guess how long - until the next election?)

Who do you think running for election has the power to say "no more"?

Kat

Kat - I honestly don't know. I'm Canadian - just an American resident, so i can't vote anyway, haven't followed the candidates at all. I'll admit I rarely vote even in Canada because it never really matters who's in anyway. Nothing ever seems to change or get done. I have to say though anyone has got to be better than Bush.

I agree with that!!

I am vote crazy! I have voted in every single election since I was eligible....from the biggies as in Presidential elections, down to local school board elections!!

I figure, if I want to complain I have to have at least made an attempt to make a change!

Kat

I even work the elections, of course in my neck of the woods, I am in high demand----Democrats are few and far between it seems!!! And there has to be both parties working----so I work a lot!!! LOL

Kat