Update On The Recent Meat Scandal

Folks, here are some excerpts from recent articles bringing it right here, home to us. First, check out the scope of what is going on as it relates to the food on your plate:

More than a third of the 143 million pounds of California beef recalled last week went to school lunch programs, with at least 20 million pounds consumed, officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday.

About 50 million pounds of the meat went to schools, said Eric Steiner, deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service's special nutrition programs.

The plant produces about a fifth of all the meat in the federal school lunch programs, said Bill Sessions, associate deputy administrator for livestock and seed Programs with USDA's agriculture marketing service.

Now, let's just think about what these statements mean to us. First, on average, every fifth bite of beef your child eats from the school cafeteria comes from this plant. Second, if 50 million pounds went into the school lunch program, where did the other 93 million pounds go? How about McDonalds, Jack In The Box, Burger King, Taco Bell?

Then there's this:

Texas school districts that have been storing recalled beef were told Thursday by the Texas agriculture commissioner to dispose of it.

The districts have shelved more than 765,000 pounds of recalled beef as part of the nation's largest beef recall, Commissioner Todd Staples said.

Tarrant County school districts -- including Azle, Castleberry, Everman, Keller, Mansfield, Grapevine-Colleyville and Birdville -- were affected by Sunday's recall.

Close enough to home for you?

And finally:

Sometimes, government inspectors responsible for examining slaughterhouse cattle for mad cow disease and other ills are so short-staffed that they find themselves peering down from catwalks at hundreds of animals at once, looking for such telltale signs as droopy ears, stumbling gait and facial paralysis.

The ranks of inspectors are so thin that slaughterhouse workers often figure out when "surprise" visits are about to take place, and make sure they are on their best behavior.

USDA numbers show anywhere between 10 and 12 percent of inspector and veterinarian positions at poultry, beef and pork slaughterhouses nationwide were vacant between October 2006 and September 2007. In some regions, including Colorado and Texas, a major beef-producing state, the rate hovered around 15 percent. In New York, vacancy rates hit nearly 22 percent last July.

Felicia Nestor, a policy analyst with Washington-based Food and Water Watch, said the food supply may be at risk.

"I have talked to so many inspectors who used to work for the industry, and part of the training is how to get around the inspection. They've got walkies-talkies to alert each other to where the inspector is, they double-team the inspector," she said.

At two packing houses in Nebraska, veterinarians monitor up to 700 head of cattle at a time for signs of illness - just enough to make sure all the cows are standing, said one veteran inspector who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job.

The inspector has worked for 15 years as an inspector at two plants in Lexington and Grand Island, Neb. One-quarter of the inspection positions at one of his plants have been vacant now for two years, he said.

Really, is this a system you can trust?