After the US Department of Agriculture's surprise beef recall in February, we wrote about Consumer Help Web's disapproval of the process. On February 18, we chastised the federal agency, pointing out that "consumers have no way of knowing if tainted beef is in their freezer."
To make matters worse, USDA officials have told a Congressional committee that they are not allowed to nor do they intend to disclose the names of food distributors who may have received tainted meat products from Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company.
This position did not sit well with Congressional leaders, especially after a USDA spokesperson referred to the information as "proprietary". We join our voice with Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), who candidly told USDA officials that information regarding safety hazards American consumers face are not "proprietary".
We understand the need for rules to help protect the interests of businesses and their employees (who are also consumers) when a company is under investigation. But three weeks after a so-called "recall", consumers still can't identify the products. We find that inexcusable.
The United States Department of Agriculture ratcheted up the heat on consumer safety issues by issuing a recall of 143 million pounds of beef from Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company. That organization supplies food distributors, including federal food programs, with ground beef.
As with many recalls, this one seems more about the timing than consumer safety. The USDA dumped this news on the American public during the Sunday of a 3 day holiday weekend. The agency conceded by Monday that "most" of the meat had likely already been eaten and that the meat company had voluntarily ceased operations on February 1.
Consumers don't need a sundial to know that this issue was news at least 16 days ago, and one therefore becomes concerned about the timing and any potential motivation.
Perhaps the worst part of this scare headline is that consumers have no way of knowing if tainted beef is in their freezer. We don't understand why the scare headlines were pushed out more than two weeks after the plant's closure and before a way of identifying retail purchases existed. What we do know is this that is a great tactic that buys everyone some time but still beats the wardrums of consumer safety.
Except in this case, consumers can do nothing to ensure their safety, if a threat even exists, because they can't identify any potentially contaminated food.
When news is made for the apparent sake of making news, one wonders about motivation. Wouldn't an announcement when the company voluntarily ceased operating almost three weeks ago have been appropriate? That's almost a month's worth of possible consumption allowed to go by when the company and the government knew there were potential safety issues.
We'll be addressing the issues surrounding the CPSC and Congressional attempts to legislate safety that seem oddly akin to the economic stimulus package, but for now, we'll just skip the burger for a turkey burger and wait to hear the all clear sign.
By our reckoning, that should be in May, just in time for a nice Memorial Day barbeque.
Two government agencies responsible for consumer food safety in the United States have expanded the warnings issued last week about products manufactured at Castleberry Food Company.
"Do not take this issue lightly or ignore it if you don't own products with Castleberry on the label," said Consumer Help Web President Joan Bounacos. "The company also produces supermarket branded foods for huge chains like Kroger, Piggly Wiggly and Meijer."
The Food and Drug Administration reported that four people are hospitalized in serious condition after eating food traced back to the Augusta, Georgia subsidiary of privately-held Bumble Bee Foods.
Consumers should check the product lists at the links below and immediately dispose of any products they own by double-bagging the product in plastic and putting it in a non-recyclable trash container.
The FDA web information listing products, impact and disposal instructions and the USDA web information on meat products should be considered the authoritative source of information for this massive recall and healthy safety issue.
The first shipments of irradiated Indian mangoes have arrived through U.S. ports-of-entry, initiating mango trade with the United States. Indian mangoes are the first fruit irradiated at an overseas site and approved for importation into the United States. Irradiation became an approved treatment on all pests for fruits and vegetables entering the United States in 2002. Last year, a generic dose was recognized for a wider range of commodities, including Indian mangoes. The use of irradiation provides an alternative to other pest control methods, such as fumigation, cold and heat treatments.
"This is a significant milestone that paves the way for the future use of irradiation technology to protect against the introduction of plant pests," said Secretary Mike Johanns. "India and the United States began talking about shipping mangoes 17 years ago. Irradiating Indian mangoes safeguards American agriculture while providing additional choices for U.S. consumers in today's global marketplace."
APHIS, the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, approved the importation of precleared, commercial shipments of fresh mangoes from India, provided certain conditions are met. To ensure that plant pests of quarantine significance do not enter the United States though the importation of this fruit, the mangoes must be treated with specified doses of irradiation prior to export at an APHIS-certified facility. Each shipment must also be accompanied by a certificate issued by the national plant protection organization of India with additional declarations certifying that the treatment and inspection of the mangoes was made in accordance with APHIS regulations. In addition, inspectors with the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection may further inspect precleared commodities at the port of first arrival.
After the US Department of Agriculture's surprise beef recall in February, we wrote about Consumer Help Web's disapproval of the process. On February 18, we chastised the federal agency, pointing out that "consumers have no way of knowing if tainted beef is in their freezer."
