READ WHAT THE AVMA HAS TO SAY - CLICK HERE
Much of it likely consumed; no illnesses reported
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ADMIN COMMENT: Thank goodness for that ! Except that there may still be frozen out there, I would think and in the prepared Pet food Industry, perhaps..........
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ADMIN NOTE: WARNING !!!!!!! THE VIDEO ON THE SITE LINK IS GRAPHIC !~~~ It shows COWS BEING ABUSED! I did not know that until after I clicked the videos and I thought I was going to be ill listening to the cries of that cow........ I started crying! I never would have watched it if I had known!~
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The primary reason for the recall, Raymond said, was that an ongoing investigation has shown that the Hallmark plant violated USDA rules regarding the treatment of downer cattle -- animals that arrive at the slaughter plant but cannot stand up because of an illness or injury.
Following the discovery of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, in the U.S. in 2003, the USDA forbid the slaughter of downer cattle in an effort to reduce the chance of BSE entering the human food chain.
Those rules were relaxed slightly last year to allow USDA veterinarians to determine on a case-by-case basis whether a downer cow couldn't stand because of an injury, such as a broken leg, or because it was ill or diseased. Ill or diseased animals must be condemned under USDA regulations.
Raymond said the downer cattle at the Hallmark/Westland plant were examined by a USDA inspector when they were standing, but not again as required after they went down.
Schafer and other USDA officials said that it was "extremely unlikely" that the downer cattle slaughtered by Hallmark/Westland carried BSE. Raymond said that USDA has tested 750,000 cattle for BSE and only discovered two cases. The USDA, however, recently scaled back the level of BSE testing it conducts, citing a lack of BSE cases.
The USDA recall follows the disclosure last month of a video secretly taped by the Humane Society of the United States. The video showed Hallmark/Westland plant workers prodding downer cattle to get them to stand, and moving downer cattle with machinery, such as a forklift.
Wayne Pacelle, the Humane Society's president and chief executive officer, said the USDA recall would not have occurred if his group had not made the video.
A California prosecutor filed animal cruelty charges against two former Hallmark/Westland plant workers last week based on an investigation prompted by the video.
135 million
Pounds of beef recalled
37 million
Pounds of recalled beef sold to the national school lunch program and other USDA nutrition programs
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