Downer Cow Meat May Have Gone to Burger Chains. Does the Bush Administration Think That The Humane Society Is Lying?

 Two major burger chains in the Western US have given orders to their suppliers to not purchase beef from Westland Meat Company a sister company to Hallmark Meatpacking Co.  Jack in the Box said it is not clear whether they received meat from Westland which sells the beef produced by Hallmark.  In and Out simply said it  would  never condone such treatment of cattle and Business Week reports that they have halted purchase of the beef.  McDonalds and Burger king say they haven't been purchasing the beef according to a Business Week report "Schools, burger chains ban targeted beef "

What is astonishing though is that the US government implies that the Humane Society might be lying about the use of the downer cows for food.

According to Seattle PI article "Humane Society footage raises food safety questions "

The Humane Society of the United States, which undertook the undercover operation, alleges that "downer cows" that couldn't walk on their own were killed for food in violation of state and federal laws. "There's no question about it," the non-profit's president and CEO, Wayne Pacelle, told me. The group's undercover person witnessed those animals entering the "kill box" for slaughter, he said.

But Business Week says

USDA regulations already prohibit use of disabled cows for human food because they may pose a higher risk of illnesses such as mad cow disease.

However, regulators said they were not immediately able to determine whether the workers were forcing downer cows into the slaughterhouse or dragging them out of the line.

 The fact that, of the 15 (15?  I thought it was 2!) cows with BSE (mad cow disease), 12 were "downer" cows, shows the reason for the rule and Seattle PI reports and quotes the USDA:

After a Washington state cow was found in 2003 to have mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, the USDA put into place an interim ban on the slaughter of downer cows for food. USDA officials touted that ban and other measures as the best defense in preventing the spread of mad cow disease. The agency said:

the typical clinical signs of BSE cannot always be observed in an animal that cannot rise from a recumbent position or walk, and BSE surveillance data from the European Union indicate that nonambulatory disabled cattle are among the cattle subpopulations that have demonstrated the highest prevalence of BSE in countries where BSE has been identified.

 Yet they still find downer cows going into the human food chain and over this incident Seattle PI reports:

At a news conference Thursday, Dr. Kenneth Petersen with FSIS said, "The behaviors that we've observed in the video we certainly consider egregious and unacceptable." But he added, "Currently there's no evidence that any of the animals, particularly downers, entered the food supply."

Oh yeah?

Check out this first-person account at the Hallmark Meat Packing Co. where the narrator describes the scene as follows:

"... This cow went down right before going to slaughter. The manager thinks he can get her to stand up so he continues to shock her. When that doesn't work, he starts spraying water down her nose so she feel like she's drowning. Once they force the cow to stand up, two workers are holding her up from behind, twisting her tail and they continue to shock her as they lead her to the kill box."

 Read all details at Business Week and Seattle PI for the full story.   Seattle PI has a link to the video at the bottom of their article, or find it and more information at Humane Society: Undercover Investigation Reveals Rampant Animal Cruelty at California Slaughter Plant – A Major Beef Supplier to America’s School Lunch Program

Also, the Humane Society site has options on action for helping push for laws that will prevent cruelty to animals and using downers in the human food supply.

Both sources of the video warn that it contains graphic scenes that may disturb you.  I did not see much of it because with dial up only 6 seconds worth of video was loading about every minute. So I gave up on the 5:40 long offering.

Remember when we heard about the first BSE cow and then the second on found in the US.  But then apparently the USDA stopped reporting the presence of 13 others.  

This is another case of the Bush administration deciding that no news is good news to the American people, whether or not they feel they want to be informed about the dangers to themselves and their families.

tags: food supply  downer cows  bse  mad cow disease  usda  

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