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1.
THREE MAJOR MEAT RECALLS
On October 6th, Cargill Meat Solutions
recalled some 845,000 pounds of ground beef because
of possible contamination with Escherichia coli (E.
coli) O157:H7. It was a mere day after the Topps Meat
Co., the largest frozen hamburger company in the U.S.,
announced it was going out of business due to a September
recall of all the hamburger it had produced in the
past year (22 million pounds, the 5th largest such
recall involving E. coli in U.S. history). Topps concedes
that most of it likely has been eaten. The meat is
implicated in 32 cases of illness in 8 states. The
Cargill meat is suspected in a growing number of cases.
E. coli contamination has led to eleven
ground beef recalls so far this year (see: http://tinyurl.com/29nblf
), five of which were prompted by illness. Between
2003 and 2006 the number of recalls linked to ground
beef averaged seven per year. The increasing number
of incidents is calling into question the effectiveness
of food regulations and monitoring. Although tests
indicated the E. coli strain in the Topps meat on
September 7th and confirmed it on the 14th, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture waited until Sept. 25th
to announce the recall (see: http://tinyurl.com/27d8zy
). “A person couldn't be blamed for wondering
whether the department was trying to protect the beef
industry or the public,” a Columbus Dispatch
editorial states (see: http://tinyurl.com/2m63jd
and see: http://tinyurl.com/22gdzu
). "We've determined, in fact, that there is
room for improvement,” a Food Safety and Inspection
Service (FSIS) administrator acknowledged, referring
to recall procedures. In a recent industry survey,
some 60% of respondents doubted that it would be possible
to trace the source of E. coli in ground beef to the
original supplier. See also: http://tinyurl.com/299r3v
Late Thursday (Oct. 11th), ConAgra Foods Inc. announced
a recall of all of its Banquet pot pies, including
those made with beef. The CDC has linked Banquet pot
pies to at least 165 cases of salmonella in 31 states,
dating back to January, with at least 30 people so
far having been hospitalized. On Tuesday, ConAgra
had requested that U.S. stores stop selling Banquet
pies containing turkey and chicken meat. ConAgra and
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defended
their decision to not recall the products, saying
they are safe if cooked as instructed. ConAgra explains
that it has now voluntarily recalled the pies “to
ensure the utmost clarity for consumers about the
fact that they should not eat these products”
even if cooked thoroughly. (This past winter, ConAgra
recalled its peanut butter after a salmonella outbreak
eventually sickened 625 people in 47 states.)
Consumer groups are renewing their call
for a single government agency focused exclusively
on food safety, something the National Academy of
Sciences recommended nearly a decade ago. The government
continues to stress that the U.S. meat supply is “the
safest in the world.” An item in Beef Cow-Calf
Weekly comments: “Interestingly, the U.S. continues
to see far less disruptions in its markets during
such missteps than other countries. That's simply
because the consuming public continues to put great
trust in USDA's role as an independent, third-party
validator of the food-safety process.” See:
http://tinyurl.com/26p5xb
SPIKE IN E COLI–RELATED BEEF RECALLS
ALARMS OFFICIALS
CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research &
Policy) News, Lisa Schnirring, Oct 9, 2007
http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/fs/food-disease/news/oct0907coli.html
SECOND-LARGEST U.S. MEAT RECALL SINKS TOPPS
The Poultry Site News Desk, Oct. 8, 2007
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/13012/secondlargest-us-meat-recall-sinks-topps
CONAGRA ASKS STORES IN U.S. TO QUIT SELLING POSSIBLY
TAINTED POT PIES
The Canadian Press, October 11, 2007
http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfRtBmRDZf_6DfX9so8yqGDfz8SA
CONAGRA RECALLS POT PIES
Business Week (The Associated Press), Anna Jo Bratton
with Josh Funk, Oct. 11, 2007
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8S7DQEO0.htm
2.
PUBLIC MEETINGS ON FOOD SAFETY
A public meeting to solicit input on
the public health significance of various strains
of E. coli has been announced by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service,
the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food
Safety and Applied Nutrition, and the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. The meeting, to held
on Oct. 17th in Arlington, Va., will include opportunities
for questions and comments from the audience. For
more information and to pre-register to attend in
person or by teleconference, see: http://tinyurl.com/8l7ys
The State of Consumer Trust and the
Food System is the title of the annual summit of the
Center for Food Integrity (http://www.foodintegrity.org
and see: http://tinyurl.com/22b2xw
). The event “will engage stakeholders throughout
the food industry to explore and identify potential
solutions to many of the issues the contemporary food
system current faces, including health and nutrition,
food safety, worker care, environment, and food animal
well being.” Featured speakers include David
Acheson, assistant commissioner for food protection
(USDA); Dennis Avery of The Hudson Institute; and
Wayne Pacelle with The Humane Society of the United
States. The Summit will take place on October 24th
in Indianapolis. See: http://www.foodintegrity.org/summit.html
3.
AVIAN INFLUENZA ROOSTS IN CANADA
In late September, birds at a commercial
“broiler breeder” farm in Saskatchewan
became infected with the H7N3 strain of avian influenza
(“bird flu”). Some 45,000-50,000 birds
at the farm have been killed with carbon dioxide gas
and buried in a remote area of the property. The government
will compensate the company for the market value of
the birds and the cost of killing and disposing of
them. General restrictions have been imposed on the
entire province of Saskatchewan. H7N3 is commonly
found as a low-pathogenic form in wild ducks in North
America. It is a mild strain not normally associated
with human illness, unlike the more lethal H5N1 virus
that has spread through birds in Africa, Asia and
Europe, infecting some 328 people in 12 countries
and killing about 200 of them. H7N3 can, however,
quickly mutate into a highly pathogenic form in commercial
poultry flocks. In 2004, some 16 million birds were
killed in British Columbia to limit the spread of
disease during Canada’s first major avian flu
outbreak.
CANADA FINDS BIRD FLU STRAIN ON WESTERN
FARM
Reuters; Roberta Rampton with Scott Haggett, Bob Burgdorfer,
Allan Dowd and Christopher Doering; Sept. 27, 2007
http://uk.reuters.com/article/europeCrisis/idUKN2738657820070927
DEPOPULATION OF BIRDS COMPLETE AT SASKATCHEWAN FARM,
CANADA
Medical News Today, October 4, 2007
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/84594.php
4.
350,000 SHEEP FACE DEATH DUE TO DISEASE RESTRICTIONS
Restrictions on animal movement in the
U.K., and on British meat exports to the European
Union imposed due to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD,
see: http://tinyurl.com/yu3fgw
), are being somewhat relaxed. However, many fear
the outbreak is not over and the relaxation may only
exacerbate it. The Scottish government has announced
that 250,000 lambs are to be slaughtered over the
next ten weeks, insisting that killing them is the
only way to save them from starving this winter. Ordinarily,
the lambs would be sold abroad but FMD travel restrictions
prevent them from legally being moved. The export
market is reopening on October 12th and some lambs
could be sold then. The government will pay farmers
to send the animals to domestic slaughter, with some
of their bodies used for biodiesel fuel and others
incinerated. The Scottish Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) opposes the killing unless
there plainly is an animal health or welfare issue.
Similarly, some 90,000 lambs and 10,000
ewes in England may be slayed as they are prohibited
from being moved out of another disease zone and reportedly
face starvation if left there. They are trapped due
to bluetongue virus, which was confirmed in the U.K.
on September 21st. Thousands of animals in Northern
Europe have died from the virus, which is now endemic
in the U.K. “It's not the disease that is going
to kill the animals, it's the control zone that is
going to kill the animals,” said a National
Farmers' Union consultant who is also a sheep farmer.
FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE IN THE UK - SUMMARY
The Pig Site Newsletter, October 8, 2007
http://www.thecattlesite.com/footandmouth/vars/offset/0
250,000 LAMBS STRANDED BY FOOT-AND-MOUTH OUTBREAK
TO BE SLAUGHTERED
The Scotsman, Hamish MacDonell, Oct. 10, 2007
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=1617632007
STARVING LAMBS TO BE SLAUGHTERED
BBC News, Oct. 9, 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7035225.stm
UK: BLUETONGUE OUTBREAK CONFIRMED AFTER FIFTH CASE
Daily Mail, Sept. 28, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/ypa5hn
SHEEP FACE CULLING DUE TO BLUETONGUE
PROTECTION ZONE
Press Association Newsfile, October 2, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2a4our
5.
DISEASE RESEARCH FACILITIES IN THE U.S.
News that U.S. officials are considered
building a new animal disease research laboratory
in this country brought “cries of disbelief”:
http://tinyurl.com/yq4kwu.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proceeding
with plans to move an FMD lab from the isolation of
Plum Island, N.Y. to one of five possible mainland
sites. Proponents point to technology to prevent disease
escape, with one DHS spokesperson asserting: "No
matter where we put it it's going to be safe and secure."
The Associated Press notes that no lab is fool-proof,
and gives examples of recent safety breaches. The
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has reported poor
safety practices, shoddy record-keeping, and a lack
of proper training at campus labs. Animal agriculture
industry groups are generally in support of plans
for the $450 million National Bio- and Agro-Defense
Facility, even if it is moved to a state with a heavy
concentration of farmed animals. Some, however, are
expressing reservations. FMD has been eradicted from
the U.S. since 1929. Some 50 years ago, Congress mandated
that research on the disease be restricted to an island
not connected by bridge or tunnel to mainland U.S.
A former Plum Island director dismisses this, noting
that many diseases that are contagious between humans
are studied in labs on the U.S. mainland.
In Ames, Iowa, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture has dedicated a “high-containment”
animal research building for experimentation with
endemic, zoonotic and foreign animal diseases, using
bison, cattle, deer, elk, pigs and sheep there. The
building is the second component of a multi-phase,
$460 million project. Upon completion, expected by
2009, it will be one of the largest facilities of
its type in the world, serving the $100 billion U.S.
animal agriculture industry.
NEW LAB PLANNED AMID BRITAIN'S FOOT-AND-MOUTH
OUTBREAKS
The Associated Press, Suzanne Gamboa, Oct. 2, 2007
http://www.star-telegram.com/448/story/253918.html
NEW USDA ANIMAL RESEARCH FACILITY DEDICATED
High Plains Journal, Oct. 8, 2007
http://www.hpj.com/archives/2007/oct07/oct8/NewUSDAanimalresearchfacili.cfm
6.
CALIFORNIA CONFINEMENT INITIATIVES; DAIRY INITIATIVE
Last year, Arizona voters made their
state the first in the country to outlaw veal crates,
and joined Florida in prohibiting the use of gestation
crates for pigs. Oregon has since also banned gestation
crates. California, with 20 million hens and the 5th
largest egg industry in the U.S., will become the
first state in the U.S. to ban conventional cages
for egg-laying poultry if citizens there pass a ballot
initiative (see PDF file: http://tinyurl.com/yprh4c
and http://humanecalifornia.org).
The California Prevention of Animal Cruelty Act would
also affect calves used for veal and some 20,000 pigs
used for breeding purposes by requiring enclosures
be large enough for them to fully extend their wings
or legs, lie down, stand up and turn around. In order
for it to qualify for the November 2008 ballot, nearly
434,000 signatures must be collected by February 28th.
The measure would take effect in 2015 and exempt rodeos,
fairs, 4-H, and research and veterinary programs.
Violations would be a misdemeanor and could result
in a fine.
Opponents argue that the animals are
humanely housed, and that alternative production methods
could be less safe and more costly for consumers.
A counter initiative, The Farm Animal Protection Act
(see PDF file: http://tinyurl.com/2l2aug
), has been filed. Industry officials blamed the success
of the Arizona initiative on the inability to produce
a consumer-friendly sound byte. According to insiders,
the lack of resistance to the initiative signaled
a resignation to the end of gestation stalls in small
agriculture states.
The first draft of the National Dairy
Animal Well-Being Initiative was presented on October
4th at the World Dairy Expo, in Wisconsin. The coalition
that formulated it did so with the intent of assuring
consumers and others that the dairy industry provides
appropriate care for the animals it uses. Industry
input will be accepted over the next nine months,
after which the principles and guidelines will be
finalized. See: http://www.dairywellbeing.org
INITIATIVE WOULD RESTRICT CONFINEMENT
OF CHICKENS, PIGS, CALVES
San Diego Union Tribune, Don Thompson, Oct. 2, 2007
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20071002-1604-wst-animalwelfare.html
ACTIVISTS WANT TO BAN CAGES, CRATES
Capital Press, Cecilia Parsons, Oct. 5, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2jxpor
ANIMAL GROUPS PUSH TO RESTRICT CONFINEMENT
The Poultry Site News Desk, Oct. 3, 2007
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/12979/animal-groups-push-to-restrict-confinement
GESTATION STALLS FALL TO OREGON LAWMAKERS
DVM Newsmagazine, Jennifer Fiala, Sept. 1, 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2ygwo6
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