USDA's recall of 143 million pounds of beef yesterday (the largest meat recall in U.S. history) follows the Humane Society of the United States' disclosure of unnerving video footage from a Hallmark/Westland Meat Company slaughter plant in Chino, California, where workers were taped tormenting "downer" cows (animals that cannot walk and are clearly ill) to get them to stand and pass inspections.

Because downer cows can carry illnesses, most notably bovine spongiform encephalopathy (or "mad cow disease"), they are prohibited from entering the food supply. Or so we thought. USDA says that Westland sold 27 million pounds of meat in 2007 to federal food and nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program. (As if school lunches were appetizing in the first place.)

According to a statement by Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, "It is extremely unlikely that these animals were at risk for BSE because of the multiple safeguards; however, this action is necessary because plant procedures violated USDA regulations."

I'm not so convinced. Less than 1 percent of beef cattle are tested for mad cow disease in the U.S., and usually only downer cows. Because BSE has a long incubation period, infected cattle might not appear sick. In Europe, where testing is more rigorous, more than 1,000 cases of BSE turned up in healthy cattle headed for slaughter between 2001 and 2006.

Humans who eat meat from diseased animals risk contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), the human variant of BSE. CJD cases occur in the U.S. each year, but our government shrugs them off as spontaneously occurring or hereditary – which some of them likely are. But the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not list CJD as a reportable disease, meaning the agency doesn't have accurate information regarding the prevalence of the disease (they don't require autopsy information be submitted, which is the only way to diagnose CJD). The symptoms of CJD mirror those of Alzheimer's, complicating tracking of the disease even more. Consumer groups argue that CJD is largely under-diagnosed, especially in light of these numbers: Alzheimer's cases have increased more than 50-fold since 1979 – from less than 1,000 to more than 50,000 in 2000.

Choose your meat wisely. Cattle fed rendered animal protein are most at risk of carrying BSE. Certified organic and grass-fed animals are a healthy and smart alternative.

Comments (6)

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Not so fast...
written by James, February 18, 2008

While it is true that this case is a problem currently, in the food chain you a making some quite large leaps in connection with this case to BSE and CJD.
First if you can tell that a cow has BSE just by looking at it then you might want to reconsider your current career and go to work for the FDA as a meat inspector. Second the case of CJD and other degenerative brain illnesses have been in some cases linked to other factors.
See http://www.mayoclinic.com/heal...DSECTION=4

It is nice to see that you are interested in this topic but you are a little alarmist in your representation of this issue.

James Bergman

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Downer cows clearly associated
written by Sarah, February 18, 2008

I have to disagree with James' comment. The primary reason stated by the USDA for prohibiting non-ambulatory cattle from entering the food chain is to protect the public from BSE, and downer cows have accounted for the majority of BSE cases in North America. The CDC clearly links CJD with contaminated beef, advising travelers in areas known to have BSE to avoid eating beef altogether: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/vcjd/prevention.htm
Sure, CJD may be linked to other factors in some cases, but I am not sure that means that we should not try and ensure our beef supply is as safe as possible, thus avoiding CJD risk factors that we can control.

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agreed
written by chaka khan, February 20, 2008

Yeah, ...
I agree, "associated". This seems hardly "alarmist" to think about our food and ramifications of safety (or lack thereof). The author grants the difficulty of recognizing BSE/CJD - this does not appear to be the issue. What is concerning is safety and human health. Of course there are "other factors" contributing to "degenerative brain illnesses" but who wants to blindly risk their health? Frame the issue however you want, slaughtering sick cows and injecting that beef into distribution (including some school lunches) puts people at risk.

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written by Andrea, February 24, 2008

Hopefully the horrific footage from the Humane Society of the US will prompt more people to go vegetarian, or at least stop buying industrial agriculture and CAFO products. Because I guarantee you that similar abuses are happening at many other slaughterhouses. Whether the risk of BSE spreading is high or low, this kind of cruel treatment is completely unacceptable and completely preventable.

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written by Susie Hammer, February 24, 2008

I quit eating beef and pork years ago,
back in 1984 because I worked at a meat
packing house in Texas. I was a line
inspector and my job was to cut into
various pieces on the line to check
for fat depth. I cut into a piece one
day and this horrible green pus came
oozing out. I threw the whole piece
on the floor and cleaned my blade. A
few minutes later, a supervisor asked
why that hunk of meat was on the floor.
I told him it was infected. He said
"Cut off the bad spot and send the
rest down the line" I haven't eaten
beef or pork since. I still eat fish, so
I am not a total vegan yet but with
all the mercury stories, I am concerned about it's safety too.Plus, eating beef and pork contributes to global warming with the transport.

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written by Ldean, February 24, 2008

Book recommendations: "Eating with Conscience: the Bioethics of Food" by Michael W. Fox (for anyone interested in what really goes into their body.) Also see "Slaughterhouse" by Gail Eisnitz.

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