Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Recall
I had hoped that even in the current environment of fear, political spins and misinformation about the food we eat, this latest incident would have simmered by now. Bill Maher’s latest lumping together of the beef and dairy business is disturbing even though most of 143 million pounds of hamburger subject to the recall has already been consumed (without any known ill-effects) over the past two years. It is a Class II recall, meaning that there is a “very, very remote possibility of adverse health consequences from consuming the product.”
At issue for me is the slaughter of ‘downer’ or ‘non-ambulatory’ cattle destined for the U.S. food supply. Disturbing video clips taken by a slaughterhouse employee depict dairy cows unable to travel on their own being dragged and moved by forklifts before slaughter. Apart from the inhumane practices depicted in the video clips, Federal regulations require that such ailing animals receive complete and proper inspection by Federal veterinarians. Health concerns, from my perspective, would be the amount of antibiotics in the ailing animals’ systems within the prescribed withdrawal periods before the much slighter chance of BSE (Mad Cow Disease).
But it’s time for the dairy industry to police its irresponsible practices. Though the meat packing plant is subject to the ‘voluntary’ recall, these animals did not become ‘non-ambulatory’ overnight, nor did they all become injured in the haul, some were undoubtedly loaded with forklifts. Unfortunately, this practice is all too common among frugal dairymen salvaging a few more milking days and a few more dollars from a ‘burnt-out’ dairy cow.