By LINDA McGURK

Indiana Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The USDA has come under fire on Capitol Hill for failing to protect animal welfare and consumer health in the wake of the biggest meat recall in U.S. history.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D–Conn.) is calling for USDA Secretary Ed Shafer to issue an emergency rule that would allow the agency to list all retail outlets and school districts that received shipments from the suspended Chino, Calif., slaughterhouse operated by Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co.

“(N)o clear information has been made available on the products involved, and this has resulted in consumer confusion about whether they, or their local school district, purchased products subject to the recall,” DeLauro stated in a Feb. 21 letter to Shafer.

“While there have been sporadic reports that identify school districts, stores and restaurant chains that have received the recalled products, this information is incomplete, which only exacerbates the confusion.”

USDA announced the recall on Feb. 17, after the agency received evidence that the Hallmark/Westland plant routinely failed to contact the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) public health veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing initial inspection. So-called “downer” animals are supposed to be re-inspected and either condemned from entering the public food supply or tagged as suspect and thoroughly reexamined after slaughter.

A video shot by a member of the Humane Society of the United States showed animals that had become non-ambulatory after initial inspection being picked up by a forklift and rolled and dragged across a concrete floor, in violation of the Humane Slaughter Act.

DeLauro, who is chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, also sent a sharply worded letter to Richard Raymond, USDA’s undersecretary for Food Safety, asking questions about USDA’s role in the Hallmark/Westland situation.

“It is unfortunate that it took an undercover investigation by a non-government group to unveil the terrible practices at Westland,” DeLauro stated. “Between the inhumane treatment of cows, the illegal slaughtering of downed cows for the food supply and the distribution of potentially contaminated meat into the school lunch program, the Westland Meat recall clearly demonstrates the extent of the problem the Food Safety and Inspection Service is facing.
“I am deeply concerned that it also demonstrates just how far our food safety system has collapsed and the agency’s inability to address the problems adequately.”

During a Feb. 21 media briefing, USDA officials reported the agency is in the process of tracking down the recalled meat, but they wouldn’t disclose the locations to which the product has been distributed, citing a rulemaking that classifies that information as proprietary.

Eric Steiner, an associate administrator for the FSIS special nutrition programs, however, said that more than one-third – or about 50 million pounds – of the 143 million pounds of recalled beef went to the National School Lunch Program. Of that, nearly 20 million pounds has already been consumed, 15 million pounds are currently on hold and another 15 million pounds is being traced.
Hallmark/Westland supplied roughly 20 percent of the meat distributed through USDA’s federal nutrition programs.

The recall includes meat produced from Feb. 1, 2006, to Feb. 2, 2008, much of which has likely already been consumed. But Kenneth Petersen, an assistant administrator with the FSIS, said USDA has not received any reports the meat has made people sick and judged the probability of illness due to consumption of the meat as “very remote.” The agency has no plans on testing the recalled meat or issuing further recalls.

“Once we issue a recall, we’ve made our decision,” Petersen said. “If we’re destroying all of these products, I don’t need a test to inform me that I’m going to do anything different.”

Once the product is traced, it will be destroyed by landfill, incineration or inedible rendering. Bill Sessions, a deputy administrator for livestock and seed programs in USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, assured “the USDA will pursue every avenue available” to reimburse the affected states for the cost of replacing the products that have to be destroyed, as well as other costs associated with disposal of the meat.

“We will take a warranty action against Westland to try to recover some of these costs,” he said.

In Indiana, 39 school districts received 41,000 pounds of beef from Hallmark/ Westland in the past year. The meat has now been pulled from all supply lines, and whatever remains in inventory will not be distributed.

“It’s a precautionary measure,” said Jason Bearce, spokesperson for the Indiana State Department of Education. “Undoubtedly, there are cases where the meat was consumed, but at this point if there had been health effects of it we would’ve heard about it.”

Bearce said food received through USDA’s National School Lunch Program represents a relatively small portion of the food served in Indiana schools, and at this point it’s not clear what impact the recall will have on the state’s already-tight school budgets.