| The E. coli Disaster By Sandy | | | | risk for mad cow disease. The environmental |
| Powers | | | | group, Food and Water Watch, complains the |
| | | | Agriculture Department's Food and Safety and |
| Dead rats shoveled into sausage-grinding | | | | Inspection Service does not deal with |
| machines; bribed inspectors; diseased cows | | | | Nebraska Meat harsh enough, especially |
| slaughtered for beef; filth and guts swept | | | | considering the long list of violations by |
| off the floor to be sold as "potted | | | | the meat company. According to Human Rights |
| ham"---exposé of the Chicago's | | | | Watch, Nebraska Beef, Ltd. is "a |
| meat-packing industry in Upton Sinclair's | | | | privately-held firm which does not file |
| "The Jungle," published in 1906. An outraged | | | | annual reports with the U.S. Federal |
| public demanded reforms in the meat industry. | | | | Securities and Exchange Commission. Nebraska |
| Congress responded with the creation of the | | | | Beef was founded in 1995 by a group of |
| Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat | | | | investors led by company president William |
| Inspection Act of 1906, which later became | | | | Hughes in alliance with Day Lee Inc., the |
| the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). | | | | U.S. arm of Nippon Ham of Japan." Hughes had |
| | | | earlier served as executive vice president of |
| Crippled and diseased cows electrically | | | | BeefAmerica, which had repeated sanitation |
| prodded and forklifted into the | | | | violations, including contamination of meat |
| slaughterhouse to be processed and packaged | | | | with fecal matter. BeefAmerica has since |
| for sale by Westland/Hallmark Meat Company of | | | | filed for bankruptcy. Hughes moved to |
| California; E. coli contaminated beef used in | | | | Nebraska Beef. |
| school lunch programs; federal judge blocked | | | | |
| restraining order against Nebraska Beef filed | | | | Even with all the publicity for the serious |
| by the USDA that argued serious food-safety | | | | violations by Nebraska Beef, Coleman Natural |
| violations warranted closure of the plant; | | | | Foods, who advertises itself as a pioneer in |
| close to a million pounds of beef recalled | | | | natural and organic animal raising practices, |
| for E. coli contamination---today. | | | | began sending its beef to Nebraska Beef for |
| | | | processing. Coleman Natural Foods is a |
| Something is not right. We have two agencies | | | | supplier of beef to the organic grocery |
| sharing responsibility for food safety, The | | | | store, Whole Foods Market. Whole Foods |
| Food and Drug Administration and the US | | | | Market said it was unaware that Coleman |
| Department of Agriculture, yet our food is | | | | Natural Food, under new ownership, had begun |
| hazardous to our health. | | | | using the infamous Nebraska Beef. Whole |
| | | | Foods became the latest retailer affected by |
| According to an article in the Washington | | | | the E. coli contamination traced to Nebraska |
| Post, (August 10, 2008), "Nebraska Beef has | | | | Beef. What is the point of raising beef |
| a contentious history with the USDA. Over | | | | organically when it is processed by an |
| the past six years, federal meat inspectors | | | | unscrupulous slaughterhouse and meat packing |
| have repeatedly written it up for sanitation | | | | company like Nebraska Beef? |
| violations, and the company has fought back. | | | | |
| From September 2002 to February 2003, USDA | | | | The USDA's advice to consumers at risk? Buy |
| shut down the plant three times for problems | | | | a meat thermometer. "This is another example |
| such as feces on carcasses, water dripping | | | | of a broken federal system that hasn't put |
| off pipes onto meat, paint peeling onto | | | | enough resources into stopping the problem," |
| equipment and plugged-up meat wash sinks." | | | | said Jaydee Hanson, policy director at the |
| | | | Center for Food Safety in Washington. |
| Nebraska Beef has used such high-risk beef | | | | |
| parts as brains and spinal cords in meat | | | | What really is needed is an outraged public |
| processing. Brains and spinal cords are at | | | | from 1906. |