USDA And The American Meat Institute - The Foxes Are Guarding The Chicken Coup

USDA Does Not Like To Ruffle The Feathers Of The Meat Industry

Senior Public Health Correspondent, Andrew Schneider wrote a telling article today (September 28) entitled: "USDA May Be Ready to Tackle 'Other' E. Coli Strains." In the article he shows how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has for years ignored proof that "several unregulated strains of E. coli contaminate America's meat supply". He goes on to write: "It is an axiom in much of the federal government that nothing happens until the bodies stack up. That was certainly the case with E. coli 0157. Its presence in food was long known to cause disease, but for years the USDA completely accepted the meat industry's position that slaughterhouses and beef-processing plants were not accountable for pathogen contamination because consumers were expected to properly cook the product."

In 1994 Michael Taylor (at that time the USDA's food safety boss) showed real courage when he stared down the powerful American Meat Institute (AMI) and declared that E. coli 0157 was a contaminant in beef. From that point went out an order that all slaughter and processing plants must implement microbial test requirements and pathogen reduction standards for the meat industry. That was the beginning of the end of unchecked E. coli 0157 causing sickness, and deaths in America. That is not to say that this strain has never caused a death since 1994, but that there is now regulation in place.

USDA And The American Meat Institute Sleep In The Same Bed

Unfortunately, there are other dangerous strains of E. coli beyond the E. coli 0157. There is no regulation in place for these strains and if the AMI has anything to say about it there never will be. But since there is much evidence showing that these strains cause disease and death, how can the USDA justify a stance of non-action concerning this issue. Andrew Schneider states in his article: "Eleven years ago this month, Dr. Paul Mead, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Foodborne and Diarrheal Diseases Branch, reported in Emerging Infectious Diseases that food-borne poisoning from exposure to E. coli non-O157 strains is responsible for at least 31,229 illnesses, 294 hospitalizations and 26 deaths each year."

Since that was eleven years ago just imagine how those numbers have increased at this late date. As I have stated in other writings, the USDA has long ago been bought and purchased by the AMI. For obvious reasons the USDA cannot afford to buck the powerful meat industry. Andrew Schneider goes on in the article: "The meat industry, in particular the American Meat Institute, is extremely powerful, and they play a major role setting public policy at USDA," said Tony Corbo, a food safety specialist for Food and Water Watch. "For the agency to institute any rules that ensure or increase the safety of meat, they first must overcome efforts from [the meat lobby] to block them."

Our Health Matters Very Little To The Meat Industry

The "foxes really are guarding the chicken coup" and this makes for a very unstable situation and a dangerous one for the consumer. The meat industry is not going to accept any mandate that they must test for these other deadly strains without a monumental fight. It will cost them a load of money to implement these test requirements and your and my health, frankly, is not all that important to them. What is important to them is the bottom line in dollars and cents. Therefore if a few million become ill, or end up in the hospital, and a percentage of those meet their fate through tainted beef, well... "que sera sera."

The powerful meat industry long ago shut the Federal Government's mouth with respect to just about every atrocity imaginable when it comes to the raising (torture) of animals for human consumption. They really do get away with murder. They have even bought the right to be able to declare to you with a straight face that meat consumption is actually good for you. That is why you, dear reader, might very well believe that your E. coli burger is necessary for optimum health. This however is an unmitigated lie of epidemic proportions. In reality, meat consumption is a major player in the rise in rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, strokes, high blood pressure, dangerous cholesterol levels, obesity, and many other infirmities.

Hold The Meat Moguls Accountable

I know that America has a love affair with its meat, and this love affair will eventually kill us with a slow, but violent death, but just because we have been sold this "pig in a poke" concerning meat actually being a healthy food choice, let us nevertheless stand up and refuse to be sold DISEASED meat. Even if the top dogs in the meat and dairy industries are forced to give up a percent or two of their billion dollar bank accounts to insure that the animal products they thrust upon us are actually disease free, then so be it. If any consumer just can't sleep at night for sadness at the plight of these insanely rich meat industry giants because they might be forced to play fair and not kill people, then let that consumer forward a donation by direct deposit to the poor abused billionaire's bank account. As for me and my house, however, we just refuse to eat meat and we are much healthier for it; moreover we sleep better at night because it is not merely the right thing to do for optimum health, but it is also the right thing to do for the environment and most importantly for the protection of our animal friends.

USDA And The American Meat Institute - The Foxes Are Guarding The Chicken Coup

By: mark brohl

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