Originally published February 22 2008
USDA Refuses to Recall "Comingled" Meat That Contains Beef from Westland Plant Downer Cows
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
(NaturalNews) Following the unprecedented recall of 143 million pounds of beef that was potentially contaminated with mad cow disease, the USDA has decided that it's okay for children and consumer to eat that beef as long as it is comingled with beef from other cows. This startling decision appeared in a USDA memo reported in the Wall Street Journal, which stated:
"If a processor or grinder has records demonstrating that products were produced using less than 100% of recalled Westland meat for the meat component, then there is no need...to retrieve that 'commingled' product."
This statement from the USDA reveals that the agency believes the recalled beef is so dangerous that nobody should eat it, but it's safe enough to eat alongside beef from other cows. This is a curious -- if not downright laughable -- stance to take on public safety. If the meat is potentially contaminated with mad cow disease (which is the whole reason why it was recalled in the first place), then mixing mad cow disease-contaminated meat with non-contaminated meat does not reduce the potential danger of the "commingled" meat in any way whatsoever.
Video: See the exclusive video clip on Factory Farms and Slaughterhouse Cruelty at http://www.NaturalNews.com/022702.html
USDA nonsense and the betrayal of the public
How does adding another cow's meat to the downer cow's meat make the downer cow's meat any safer? It doesn't, of course, but the USDA isn't really interested in consumer safety. That's why they've issued this statement that means a meat packing company can use 99% of its beef from mad cow disease "downer" cows, and 1% of its beef from healthy cows, and it's all declared "safe" by the USDA with no need to recall the beef!
Now you can see why I consider the USDA to be such a joke. Much like the FDA, the USDA is primarily focused on protecting the profits of the industry it claims to regulate. What's important to the USDA is promoting beef, not protecting the public, and that's exactly why you also see these intentional delays in the USDA issuing beef recalls. These delays are specifically designed to limit the financial losses associated with beef recalls by making sure most of the meat is already eaten by consumers before the recall is issued.
It's yet another campaign of extreme incompetence -- or perhaps fraud -- by the USDA, an organization that believes too much in promoting milk and beef products that it has insisted for decades that all Americans eat more beef and drink more milk. That's the whole point behind the USDA's laughable food guide pyramid -- a marketing document designed to fatten up the population by telling consumers to eat and drink more animal products, regardless of the health consequences. Read Food Politics by Marion Nestle to get the full story on the fraud behind the USDA's food guide pyramid.
Better yet, download my free Honest Food Guide (www.HonestFoodGuide.org) - a replacement for the USDA's ridiculous food guide pyramid. The Honest Food Guide has been downloaded over one million times, and it tells the truth about foods that enhance health vs. foods that destroy health. Beef, milk and other animal products are in the "destroys health" category, and that's even when they aren't contaminated!
America faces the facts on animal cruelty and the criminal beef industry
What's especially notable in all this talk about beef slaughterhouses (which was only made possible by the Humane Society's secret video, by the way) is that for the first time, Americans are having to face up to the fact that they're eating meat that is cruelly extracted from the bodies of cows using torturous, criminal processes that expose these cows to excruciating pain.
For as long as I can remember, Americans have simply pretented to not know where their meat really came from. They would buy and eat meat products under the hallucination that somehow all this meat was extracted from cows without any sort of harm or pain. They were kidding themselves, of course, but through clever beef marketing and slaughterhouse secrecy, the industry was able to hide the truth about its criminal activities for many decades.
But now, all of a sudden the discussion about cruelty to cows and slaughterhouse practices is front page news. All of a sudden Americans are being forced to look in the mirror and realize what kind of industry they're supporting. Of course, many consumers just blame the slaughterhouse. "It's THEIR fault!" they say, as if their own purchasing of that very same beef had nothing to do with it. The disconnect works like this: "The slaughtering of cows is BAD, and it's THEIR fault, but the eating of the beef we buy is just fine, no problem!" In this way, consumers fail to connect their own purchasing demand with the cruel treatment of cows in factory farms and slaughterhouses across America and around the world.
When it comes to food, Americans don't really want to know where it comes from. They'd rather not think about or talk about it. They hold their noses when they swallow, and they talk about comedy TV, or politics or sports... anything to take their minds off the truth hidden in the steak they're swallowing for dinner. Nobody dares acknowledge the truth about what they're eating: Angry flesh torn from the bodies of screaming, suffering cows who are exploited and killed by profit-hungry slaughterhouse owners who care nothing about other living creatures.
The beef industry exemplifies everything that's wrong with America today: Extreme greed, the exploitation of living beings for profit, a shocking lack of compassion, non-stop pollution, environmental destruction and the complete disregard of consumer safety.
Watch the video: See the exclusive video clip on Factory Farms and Slaughterhouse Cruelty at http://www.NaturalNews.com/022702.html
If you eat red meat from factory-farmed cows, you are part of the problem. You are directly supporting the destruction of the environment and the torture and killing of cows. If you eat meat from factory-farmed cows, you are willfully participating in a system of extreme evil that operates without ethics and without any concern for living creatures or the natural environment.
There is no such thing as "cruelty-free" meat. All meat is taken from the carcass of an animal that once breathed, lived, observed and experienced. When you consider your dietary choices, think carefully about what practices you wish to promote and what businesses you wish to see succeed.
The best way to end cruelty to cows is to stop buying beef. Eat no more red meat. That includes meat from cows and pigs. If you must eat animal meat, consider switching to chickens and fish. There is still cruelty in those industries, no doubt, but the experiences of fish are much lower in intelligence than those of a cow, which is an intelligent mammal.
Better yet, eat quinoa, which is a complete protein containing all eight essential amino acids. Or supplement your protein from free-range eggs, spirulina or broccoli juice. You can get all the protein you need from plants by juicing them and drinking the juice. (Cooking destroys about half the protein content of plants, so eat them raw to get your protein.) There is absolutely no requirement for meat in the human diet. Consumers only eat meat because they were trained to do so by their parents. In the long run, that practice is entirely unsustainable, and the future of humanity depends on switching to a primarily plant-based diet.
Remember: Boycott red meat and you'll help end cruelty to cows. It's as simple as this: If consumers stop buying red meat, slaughterhouses will stop killing cows!
Be part of the solution. End cruelty to cows. Stop eating red meat (and save yourself from mad cow disease at the same time).
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