Beef contaminated with listeria has been served in the past two weeks in at least three hospitals and more than 30 cafes in the North Island.
A routine test at Waikato Hospital two weeks ago found listeria in the beef served in sandwiches and salads.
For five days the contaminated food was sold at the hospital's cafes and also served to patients for three days.
"The food in question was stopped circulating and further testing was carried out not only on that but other batches as well," says Dr Anita Bell of Waikato Hospital.
The beef came from Leonard's, a meat manufacturer who have been in business 20 years. Owner Doug Leonard says it's the first time it has happened and it came from a staff mistake.
"I know it's an easy throwaway to blame people but we do in this case, we do in this case think it's just a case of someone not completely following the guidelines in entering the factory and handing the product," says Leonard.
The Leonard's you find in the supermarket is safe to buy and eat. The infected batch went to Waikato and North Shore and Waitakere hospitals and also to 31 private cafes in the North Island which put the contaminated meat in their sandwiches.
All of the meat has either been eaten or recalled but according to health officials it doesn't mean the danger is over.
"Illness with this germ can take up to 70 days to develop, and therefore people exposed 30 days ago could yet develop illness," says Dr Greg Simmons of Auckland Public Health.
Listeria is rare with only around 20 people getting it nationally a year, but it can be a killer.
In late 1992, twins died after their mother ate infected mussels during pregnancy. The company's executives initially faced manslaughter charges but they were downgraded and convicted of criminal nuisance.
In this case it is too early to say what punishment if any Leonard's may face.
If you are well, listeria is little threat. But if you're young, old, pregnant or have a low immune system then you are at risk. And ironically those are the kind of people you find in the hospitals where the meat was served in the first place.
People who have consumed pre-packaged beef who are concerned about flu like symptoms over the next two weeks are advised to contact their doctor.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1320238/1595083
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Inspectors Say Meat Safety Is Threatened
LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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.
These allegations were raised by former and current U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors in the wake of the biggest beef recall in history — 143 million pounds from a California meatpacker accused of sending lame "downer" cows to slaughter.
The inspectors told The Associated Press that they fear chronic staff shortages in their ranks are allowing sick cows to get into the nation's food supply, endangering the public. According to USDA's own figures, the inspector ranks nationwide had vacancy rates of 10 percent or more in 2006-07.
"They're not covering all their bases. There's a possibility that something could go through because you don't have the manpower to check everything," said Lester Friedlander, a former USDA veterinary inspector at a plant in Wyalusing, Pa.
Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, acknowledged that the department has been struggling to fill vacancies but denied the food supply is at risk.
"Every single animal must past antemortem inspection before it's presented for slaughter, so only healthy animals are going to pass," she said. "We do have continuous inspection at slaughter facilities."
Similarly, Janet Riley, a spokeswoman for the American Meat Institute, defended the meatpacking industry's safety record. "It is interesting to keep in mind how heavily regulated we are," she said. "Nobody has this level of inspection."
The current and former inspectors and other industry critics charged that the staff shortages are also resulting in the mistreatment of animals on the way to slaughter, and may have contributed to the recall announced earlier this week.
U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin, said Thursday that his Senate Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee will hold a Feb. 28 hearing on the recall.
Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer and the presidents of the Humane Society and the American Meat Institute, among others, will testify, he said in a printed statement.
The USDA recalled the beef after the Humane Society of the United States released undercover video that showed slaughterhouse workers at the Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. kicking and shoving sick and crippled cows and forcing them to stand with electric prods, forklifts and water hoses.
Wayne Pacelle, the Humane Society's president and chief executive, said the video was filmed over a six-week period last fall and all the abuse happened when USDA inspectors were not present.
"The inspection system obviously has enormous gaps if these routine abuses could happen," he said. "The inspector would show up and if there were downed animals, the workers would try to get them up before the inspectors got there."
Generally, downer cows — those too sickly to stand, even with coaxing — are banned from the food supply under federal regulations. Downer cows carry a higher risk of mad cow disease. And because sickly animals typically wallow in feces and have weakened immune systems, downer cows are more likely to carry E. coli and salmonella, too.
Veterinary inspector looks for such symptoms as an unsteady gait, swollen lymph nodes, sores and poor muscle tone.
Industry critics say the staff shortages are compounded by a change in USDA regulations in the late 1990s that gave slaughterhouses more responsibility for devising their own safety checklists and for reporting downer cows to the USDA when inspectors are not present.
That policy places slaughterhouses on an honor system that can lead to abuse in an industry that thrives on close attention to costs, said Stan Painter, chairman for the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, which represents 6,000 inspectors nationwide.
"The fox is guarding its own henhouse," said Painter, who also works as a part-time inspector at hog and poultry packing plants in the South. "If you throw a three-pound chicken away, so what? But if you throw a cow away that's 300 pounds of meat, and you can't get any money out of it, that's a big issue."
Inspectors whose job is to make sure that the cattle are treated humanely said staff shortages mean they are forced to adopt routine hours for their checks, removing the element of surprise.
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.
To bolster its ranks, the department is offering big signing bonuses of at least $2,500 to inspectors willing to relocate to 15 states. The agency has 7,800 inspectors covering 6,200 federally inspected establishments, 900 of which slaughter livestock.
USDA's Eamich blamed the vacancies on competition with private-sector wages, high costs of living and the often-undesirable rural locations of many slaughterhouses.
The agency hired 200 new inspectors in the past year, bringing staffing levels to their highest point since 2003, and cut veterinarian vacancies by half through hiring incentives, the spokeswoman said.
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.
"There are so many vet shortages out in the field right now, they can't keep it properly staffed," the inspector said. "When they come into these big slaughter facilities, they'll put 200 head in a pen. All you can tell is they're moving."
Friedlander, who left the USDA in 1995, said he recalled checking up to 220 cows an hour by standing on a catwalk above a pen of hundreds of animals. He would also check to see if cows could walk by having workers drive them from one pen to another, six or seven cows abreast.
"If you're a vet, you see the first cow, you might see the second cow, but the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh cow you might not see," he said. "How can we tell if there's any facial paralysis or droopy ears? You can't tell."
USDA's Eamich said that there is no limit to the number of animals an inspector is allowed to look at at one time, "but they have to look at every single one."
http://ap.google.com/
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.
These allegations were raised by former and current U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors in the wake of the biggest beef recall in history — 143 million pounds from a California meatpacker accused of sending lame "downer" cows to slaughter.
The inspectors told The Associated Press that they fear chronic staff shortages in their ranks are allowing sick cows to get into the nation's food supply, endangering the public. According to USDA's own figures, the inspector ranks nationwide had vacancy rates of 10 percent or more in 2006-07.
"They're not covering all their bases. There's a possibility that something could go through because you don't have the manpower to check everything," said Lester Friedlander, a former USDA veterinary inspector at a plant in Wyalusing, Pa.
Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, acknowledged that the department has been struggling to fill vacancies but denied the food supply is at risk.
"Every single animal must past antemortem inspection before it's presented for slaughter, so only healthy animals are going to pass," she said. "We do have continuous inspection at slaughter facilities."
Similarly, Janet Riley, a spokeswoman for the American Meat Institute, defended the meatpacking industry's safety record. "It is interesting to keep in mind how heavily regulated we are," she said. "Nobody has this level of inspection."
The current and former inspectors and other industry critics charged that the staff shortages are also resulting in the mistreatment of animals on the way to slaughter, and may have contributed to the recall announced earlier this week.
U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wisconsin, said Thursday that his Senate Agriculture, Rural Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee will hold a Feb. 28 hearing on the recall.
Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer and the presidents of the Humane Society and the American Meat Institute, among others, will testify, he said in a printed statement.
The USDA recalled the beef after the Humane Society of the United States released undercover video that showed slaughterhouse workers at the Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. kicking and shoving sick and crippled cows and forcing them to stand with electric prods, forklifts and water hoses.
Wayne Pacelle, the Humane Society's president and chief executive, said the video was filmed over a six-week period last fall and all the abuse happened when USDA inspectors were not present.
"The inspection system obviously has enormous gaps if these routine abuses could happen," he said. "The inspector would show up and if there were downed animals, the workers would try to get them up before the inspectors got there."
Generally, downer cows — those too sickly to stand, even with coaxing — are banned from the food supply under federal regulations. Downer cows carry a higher risk of mad cow disease. And because sickly animals typically wallow in feces and have weakened immune systems, downer cows are more likely to carry E. coli and salmonella, too.
Veterinary inspector looks for such symptoms as an unsteady gait, swollen lymph nodes, sores and poor muscle tone.
Industry critics say the staff shortages are compounded by a change in USDA regulations in the late 1990s that gave slaughterhouses more responsibility for devising their own safety checklists and for reporting downer cows to the USDA when inspectors are not present.
That policy places slaughterhouses on an honor system that can lead to abuse in an industry that thrives on close attention to costs, said Stan Painter, chairman for the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, which represents 6,000 inspectors nationwide.
"The fox is guarding its own henhouse," said Painter, who also works as a part-time inspector at hog and poultry packing plants in the South. "If you throw a three-pound chicken away, so what? But if you throw a cow away that's 300 pounds of meat, and you can't get any money out of it, that's a big issue."
Inspectors whose job is to make sure that the cattle are treated humanely said staff shortages mean they are forced to adopt routine hours for their checks, removing the element of surprise.
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.
To bolster its ranks, the department is offering big signing bonuses of at least $2,500 to inspectors willing to relocate to 15 states. The agency has 7,800 inspectors covering 6,200 federally inspected establishments, 900 of which slaughter livestock.
USDA's Eamich blamed the vacancies on competition with private-sector wages, high costs of living and the often-undesirable rural locations of many slaughterhouses.
The agency hired 200 new inspectors in the past year, bringing staffing levels to their highest point since 2003, and cut veterinarian vacancies by half through hiring incentives, the spokeswoman said.
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.
"There are so many vet shortages out in the field right now, they can't keep it properly staffed," the inspector said. "When they come into these big slaughter facilities, they'll put 200 head in a pen. All you can tell is they're moving."
Friedlander, who left the USDA in 1995, said he recalled checking up to 220 cows an hour by standing on a catwalk above a pen of hundreds of animals. He would also check to see if cows could walk by having workers drive them from one pen to another, six or seven cows abreast.
"If you're a vet, you see the first cow, you might see the second cow, but the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh cow you might not see," he said. "How can we tell if there's any facial paralysis or droopy ears? You can't tell."
USDA's Eamich said that there is no limit to the number of animals an inspector is allowed to look at at one time, "but they have to look at every single one."
http://ap.google.com/
Friday, February 8, 2008
Large meat batch detained on Russia-China border
MOSCOW, February 8 (Itar-Tass) - Russian customs officers together with agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB) have detained a 500-ton consignment of low-quality meat from China. The criminals intended to pass it off as quality food from European producers, a representative of the public relations department of the Federal Customs Service of Russia told Itar-Tass on Friday.
“Some 500 tons of meat, brought from China to the responsibility zone of the North-Western Customs Department, were examined by the Russian veterinary service and were found to be unfit for consumption. The product did not meet sanitary-epidemiological safety requirements and was dangerous for people’s health,” the customs officer said. As a result of it, it was decided to process it into bone meal. Large-size trailers with meat were to go to the Voronezh Region, where the meat would be processed.
The owners of the meat consignment had no intention to lose it, however, and, consequently, to lose the profits. “The customs service learned that the low-quality meat was planned to be transported to the Central Administrative Region for marketing. The meat was to be packed there into the packing materials of European producers, using special equipment. The ‘legalized’ low-quality meat was to be delivered to food stores of the country,” the customs officer continued. The FSB men laid an ambush at one of the refrigerator complexes. After staying in ambush for three days, they managed to arrest the criminals during the unloading of the trailers.
Criminal proceedings were instituted on the case against the owners of the meat batch – business people from St.Petersburg and Ramenskoe, Moscow Region, on charges of “the storage of products not meeting safety requirements for the purpose of marketing.”
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12347644&PageNum=0
“Some 500 tons of meat, brought from China to the responsibility zone of the North-Western Customs Department, were examined by the Russian veterinary service and were found to be unfit for consumption. The product did not meet sanitary-epidemiological safety requirements and was dangerous for people’s health,” the customs officer said. As a result of it, it was decided to process it into bone meal. Large-size trailers with meat were to go to the Voronezh Region, where the meat would be processed.
The owners of the meat consignment had no intention to lose it, however, and, consequently, to lose the profits. “The customs service learned that the low-quality meat was planned to be transported to the Central Administrative Region for marketing. The meat was to be packed there into the packing materials of European producers, using special equipment. The ‘legalized’ low-quality meat was to be delivered to food stores of the country,” the customs officer continued. The FSB men laid an ambush at one of the refrigerator complexes. After staying in ambush for three days, they managed to arrest the criminals during the unloading of the trailers.
Criminal proceedings were instituted on the case against the owners of the meat batch – business people from St.Petersburg and Ramenskoe, Moscow Region, on charges of “the storage of products not meeting safety requirements for the purpose of marketing.”
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12347644&PageNum=0
USDA's oversight of meat safety criticized
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has 7,800 pairs of eyes scrutinizing 6,200 slaughterhouses and food processors across the nation. But in the end, it took an undercover operation by an animal rights group to reveal that beef from ill and abused cattle had entered the human food supply.
The USDA announced this week that it was shutting down operations at a Chino-based meat producer, after hidden camera video showed workers there using various inhumane methods to force "downer" -- or non-ambulatory -- cattle to their feet and into the slaughter box.
Now, in the wake of the video's release and the agency's response, food industry insiders are questioning just how reliable the USDA's inspection process is. The incidents recorded at Hallmark Meat Packing occurred under the noses of eight on-site USDA inspectors.
"We rely on a system, and the system dropped the ball," said Dean Cliver, a food safety expert who has served in advisory roles with the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture. "Somebody ought to be asking some questions."
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service indefinitely suspended inspection at Hallmark Meat on Monday, an action that effectively bars the supplier from slaughtering and producing meat. The agency ordered the suspension after ongoing investigations found the supplier's "humane handling" practices to be lacking, said Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for the inspection service.
Eamich said the USDA has yet to confirm that any downer cattle actually entered the food supply.
Cattle that are unable to walk are banned from use as human food because they show a higher occurrence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease.
Undercover activists with the Humane Society of the United States insist that downer cattle have entered the commercial food chain and that they have "very clear documentation" on video of at least four downer cows being slaughtered for human food.
One activist with the society, who worked at the Chino plant wearing a hidden camera, said federal inspectors were lax in conducting the screening for non-ambulatory cattle. The screening requires that cows walk from one pen to the next and back to prove that they are not sick or immobile. "It would take two or three of us to get the cow to stand in front of the inspector, on wobbly legs, and he would say 'That's fine,' " said the activist, who said such incidents happened about once a week during his six weeks at the plant.
The activist declined to give his name.
The activist said another pitfall in the system was the handling of cattle that collapsed after the pre-slaughter inspection.
According to the final ruling on downer cows issued last year by the inspection service, slaughterhouse employees are obligated to notify the inspector for a reevaluation if cattle become unable to stand or walk after inspection.
"When you read these rules and apply it to the practical workings of these plants, they're just absolutely not going to do that," the activist said.
Food safety experts said that even if downer cattle were introduced into the food supply, the risk of mad cow disease spreading was very low.
The real concern, they said, is the USDA's failure to detect and correct problems at Hallmark before the Humane Society released its video.
"If it's that apparent, as we saw on the tapes, the USDA inspector should have responded to that downer animal," said Michael Doyle, a professor of food microbiology and director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia.
Cliver, professor emeritus of food safety at UC Davis, said the suspension of the plant is "long past due."
"It's a shame when USDA has to read about this stuff in the newspaper before they take action," he said. Cliver said he was especially shocked by the news, because as someone who has worked on food safety for 45 years, he believed in the federal inspection process. "That the most intensive inspection system we have was asleep on this situation bothers me enormously," he said.
One retired food inspector, who once worked at Hallmark, said the USDA supervisor in charge of the plant had to have been aware of the practices shown in the Humane Society's video.
"The supervisor should have known what was going on," said Paul Carney, western council president for the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, the USDA inspectors' union.
Bill Bullard, chief executive of the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, an advocacy organization that represents cattle-raising farmers and ranchers, was also critical of the USDA's lax enforcement.
"We would hope that this example will impress upon the USDA the need to bolster its inspection processes to enforce the current law that prohibits downer animals in the human food supply," Bullard said.
Westland Meat Co., Hallmark's distributor and a ground beef supplier for the National School Lunch Program, has voluntarily halted operations, and school district officials around the country pulled suspect beef from lunch menus. Westland also supplied to several restaurant chains, including In-N-Out Burgers and Jack in the Box, which both severed ties with the supplier last week.
Richard Raymond, USDA undersecretary for food safety, expressed confidence in the department's inspection system.
"We maintain an inspection system that safeguards the safety and wholesomeness of our food supply," he said in a statement.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-usda7feb07,1,860354.story
The USDA announced this week that it was shutting down operations at a Chino-based meat producer, after hidden camera video showed workers there using various inhumane methods to force "downer" -- or non-ambulatory -- cattle to their feet and into the slaughter box.
Now, in the wake of the video's release and the agency's response, food industry insiders are questioning just how reliable the USDA's inspection process is. The incidents recorded at Hallmark Meat Packing occurred under the noses of eight on-site USDA inspectors.
"We rely on a system, and the system dropped the ball," said Dean Cliver, a food safety expert who has served in advisory roles with the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture. "Somebody ought to be asking some questions."
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service indefinitely suspended inspection at Hallmark Meat on Monday, an action that effectively bars the supplier from slaughtering and producing meat. The agency ordered the suspension after ongoing investigations found the supplier's "humane handling" practices to be lacking, said Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for the inspection service.
Eamich said the USDA has yet to confirm that any downer cattle actually entered the food supply.
Cattle that are unable to walk are banned from use as human food because they show a higher occurrence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease.
Undercover activists with the Humane Society of the United States insist that downer cattle have entered the commercial food chain and that they have "very clear documentation" on video of at least four downer cows being slaughtered for human food.
One activist with the society, who worked at the Chino plant wearing a hidden camera, said federal inspectors were lax in conducting the screening for non-ambulatory cattle. The screening requires that cows walk from one pen to the next and back to prove that they are not sick or immobile. "It would take two or three of us to get the cow to stand in front of the inspector, on wobbly legs, and he would say 'That's fine,' " said the activist, who said such incidents happened about once a week during his six weeks at the plant.
The activist declined to give his name.
The activist said another pitfall in the system was the handling of cattle that collapsed after the pre-slaughter inspection.
According to the final ruling on downer cows issued last year by the inspection service, slaughterhouse employees are obligated to notify the inspector for a reevaluation if cattle become unable to stand or walk after inspection.
"When you read these rules and apply it to the practical workings of these plants, they're just absolutely not going to do that," the activist said.
Food safety experts said that even if downer cattle were introduced into the food supply, the risk of mad cow disease spreading was very low.
The real concern, they said, is the USDA's failure to detect and correct problems at Hallmark before the Humane Society released its video.
"If it's that apparent, as we saw on the tapes, the USDA inspector should have responded to that downer animal," said Michael Doyle, a professor of food microbiology and director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia.
Cliver, professor emeritus of food safety at UC Davis, said the suspension of the plant is "long past due."
"It's a shame when USDA has to read about this stuff in the newspaper before they take action," he said. Cliver said he was especially shocked by the news, because as someone who has worked on food safety for 45 years, he believed in the federal inspection process. "That the most intensive inspection system we have was asleep on this situation bothers me enormously," he said.
One retired food inspector, who once worked at Hallmark, said the USDA supervisor in charge of the plant had to have been aware of the practices shown in the Humane Society's video.
"The supervisor should have known what was going on," said Paul Carney, western council president for the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, the USDA inspectors' union.
Bill Bullard, chief executive of the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, an advocacy organization that represents cattle-raising farmers and ranchers, was also critical of the USDA's lax enforcement.
"We would hope that this example will impress upon the USDA the need to bolster its inspection processes to enforce the current law that prohibits downer animals in the human food supply," Bullard said.
Westland Meat Co., Hallmark's distributor and a ground beef supplier for the National School Lunch Program, has voluntarily halted operations, and school district officials around the country pulled suspect beef from lunch menus. Westland also supplied to several restaurant chains, including In-N-Out Burgers and Jack in the Box, which both severed ties with the supplier last week.
Richard Raymond, USDA undersecretary for food safety, expressed confidence in the department's inspection system.
"We maintain an inspection system that safeguards the safety and wholesomeness of our food supply," he said in a statement.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-usda7feb07,1,860354.story
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