Fast Food Nation: What The All-American Meal is Doing to the World (48 page)

204
can contaminate 32,000 pounds:
Cited in Armstrong et al., “Foodborne Pathogens.”

204
the animals used to make about one-quarter:
See “Relative Ground Beef Contribution to the United States Beef Supply — Final Report,” The American Meat Institute Foundation, in cooperation with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association,” May 1996.

dozens or even hundreds of different cattle
: Cited in Armstrong et al., “Foodborne Pathogens.”

“This is no fairy story and no joke”:
Sinclair,
Jungle
, p. 135.

205
“Meat and food products, generally speaking”:
Quoted in Skaggs,
Prime Cut
, p. 123.

“Men are men”:
Quoted in Yeager,
Competition and Regulation
, p. 208.

“we are paying all we care to pay”: Quoted ibid., p. 205.

A panel appointed by the National Academy of Sciences… another National Academy of Sciences panel:
The findings of the first panel were published in a report entitled
Meat and Poultry Inspection: The Scientific Basis of the Nation’s Program
(Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1985). The findings of the second panel appeared as
The Future of Public Health
(Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1988).

206
“Who knows what crisis will be next?”:
The chairman of the panel was Richard Remington, professor of preventive medicine and environmental health at the University of Iowa. Quoted in Gregory Byrne, “Panel Laments ‘Disarray’ in Public Health System; Institute of Medicine Panel,”
Science
, September 23, 1988.

five major slaughterhouses that supplied about one-fifth:
Cited in Daniel P. Puzo, “Does Streamlined Beef Inspection Work?”
Los Angeles Times
, June 18, 1992.

number of federal meat inspectors would be cut by half:
See Knight-Ridder News Service, “Meat Policy Changed: Plants Won’t Be Inspected As Often,”
The Record
, November 4, 1988.

A 1992 USDA study of the Streamlined Inspection System:
See Don Kendall, “Report Calls for Streamlining Federal Meat Inspections,”
AP
, September 17,1990.

207
the accuracy of that study was thrown into doubt:
On April 30, 1992, the ABC News show
PrimeTime Live
broadcast an investigation of the Streamlined Inspection System for Cattle. ABC had obtained corporate documents showing that some USDA visits were known in advance. The show also included footage of meat covered in feces being processed at the Monfort plant in Greeley. For more on conditions at the Greeley plant, see Kelly Richmond, “Unhappy Meals: Colorado Meat Plant Blasted for Disease and Filth,”
States New Service
, June 11, 1992. For more on the lapses of the SIS-C and the lack of surprise during USDA visits, see Guy Gugliotta, “USDA Is Sued: Where’s the Beef Report? Public Interest Group Charges System Lets Dirtier, More Dangerous Meat Reach Consumers,”
Washington Post
, July 10, 1990.

some of the meat used by Jack in the Box:
See Terry McDermott, “The Jack in the Box Poisonings — Why Inspection of Meat Fails,”
Seattle Times
, January 31, 1993; Frank Green, “Foodmaker, Suppliers Settle
E. coli
Claims,”
San Diego Union-Tribune
, February 25, 1998.

“This recent outbreak sheds light”:
Quoted in “Meat Institute Urges Federal and State Agencies to Adopt Industry Guidelines Proven to Prevent
E. coli
0157:H7 in Hamburgers,”
PR Newswire
, February 4, 1993.

“The presence of bacteria in raw meat”:
Quoted in Fox,
Spoiled
, p. 252.

208
had waited a week before acknowledging:
See Robert Goff, “Coming Clean: After Its Tragic Outbreak of
E. coli
, Jack in the Box Quickly Fixed Its Food Handling,”
Forbes
, May 17, 1999.

210
A study of campaign contributions:
See “The Captive Congress,” a chapter in
Safety Last
, as well as the statistical tables, pp. 9–21, 76–90.

212
prosecutors claimed… Both men were later found innocent:
See Scott Bauer, “Prosecutors: Former Hudson Foods Officials Lied about Meat Recall,”
AP
, November 10,1999; “Tyson Unit Acquitted of Lying in Beef Recall; Hudson Quality Control Director Also Cleared,”
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
, December 4, 1999.
health officials in Nevada did not learn from the company:
FSIS Recall Policy Public Meeting.

“had not been fully tested”:
Quoted in Elliot Jaspin and Scott Montgomery, “U.S. Mum on Fast Food Recalls,”
Cox News Service
, August 18, 1997, Jaspin and Montgomery have written a number of fine investigative pieces on the USDA and the meatpacking industry.

“We live in a very litigious society”:
Quoted ibid.

213
The USDA now informs the public:
Interview with Elizabeth Gaston, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.

“Its very frustrating for us”:
Quoted in Allison Young and Jeff Taylor, “Stealthy Meat Recalls Leave Consumers in Dark,”
Denver Post
, May 13, 1999. See also Allison Beers, “Recalls Present Tough Decisions for Food Companies,”
Food Chemical News
, May 4, 1998; and Pan Demetrakakes, “Backlash: Recalls,”
Food Processing
August 1, 1999.

“Press releases will not identify”:
Quoted in “Recall of Meat and Poultry Products,” FSIS Directive, January 19, 2000.

A recent IBP press release:
“Ground Beef Product Recall,” IBP news release, June 23, 2000.

214
Nowhere does the press release mention:
The story of the outbreak at Tiger Harry’s is based on interviews with officials at the Arkansas Department of Health, including Dennis Berry, an epidemiologist; John Kraft, a field investigator; and Dr. David Bourne, medical director of the Preventive Health Section. See also “21 Ill, 11 Hospitalized for
E. coli
; Outbreak May Be Tied to Restaurant,”
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
, June 3, 2000; “266,000 Pounds of Bad Beef Recalled,”
Capital Times
, June 24, 2000; “Health Department Finds No Further Cases of
E. coli
Infection; USDA Investigating Ground Beef,” press release, Arkansas Department of Health, June 16, 2000.

“We can fine circuses for mistreating elephants”:
Quoted in Carol Smith, “Overhaul in Meat Inspection No Small Potatoes, Official Says,”
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
, January 29, 1998.

215
demoralized and understaffed:
See Allison Beers, “Plant Staffing Shortages Exacerbated by Excessive Absences, Low Morale,”
Food Chemical News
, August 16, 1999.

the USDA had 12,000 meat inspectors:
See Jake Thompson, “Meat Inspectors’ Role Scrutinized: Critics Say That Despite a New Safety Program, There Are Too Few People to Monitor Plants,”
Omaha World-Herald
, August 24, 1997; “Industry Forum: State of the Union,”
Meat & Poultry
, March 1998; and “Beefing Up Inspection,”
Government Executive
, February 1999.

215
the new HACCP plans are only as good:
For a strong critique of the current sys-tem from an unexpected source, see “Food Safety and Inspection Service: Implementation of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System,” U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, Food Safety Initiative, Meat and Poultry Products, Report no. 24001–3-At, June 2000.

216
She routinely falsified her checklist:
Gary Mickelson, a spokesman for IBP, told me that an employee who falsifies such documentation is subject to disciplinary action by the company. He also told me that IBP employees have in fact been terminated for such behavior.

220-degree steam:
The number comes from “SPS 400: Information Update,” a manual published by Frigoscandia Equipment, the manufacturer of steam pasteurization units.

by about 90 percent:
Ibid.

“We have been informed that carcasses”:
IBP memo from Dean Danilson to Leo Lang re: outrail cattle, May 19, 1997.

217
The dirtiest meat was to be shipped out:
When the memo leaked in June of 1998, IBP denied that it was shipping contaminated meat to outside suppliers, claimed its unusual outrail policy had been devised solely to address shelf-life concerns — and said that, in any event, the policy was no longer in effect. Gary Mickelson, an IBP spokesman, repeated the same assertions to me, adding that “IBP’s quality and food safety programs… are considered by many to be the ‘best’ in the industry. We will not sell any products — whether it be boxed beef or beef carcasses that we do not believe are safe for human consumption.” See also “Ground Beef Guidelines Are Insufficient, STOP Says,”
Food Chemical News
, June 8, 1998.

research for the Star Wars antimissile program:
See “Titan to Put Whammy on Food Bacteria,”
San Diego Union-Tribune
, May 18, 1999.

get rid of the word “irradiation”:
See “Beef Industry Recommends Irradiation Rule Include Ready-to-Eat Meats,”
Food Labeling News
, June 23, 1999; Rick Lingle, “Food Irradiation Acceleration,”
Packaging Digest
, July 1, 1999; and Steven F. Grover, “Pasteurized Foods in Your Future?”
Food Management
, October 1999. Grover is a vice president of the National Restaurant Association.

A 1983 investigation by NBC News:
For the story of Rudy “Butch” Stanko, see Wayne Slater, “Domestic News,”
AP
, September 19, 1983; “Agriculture to Investigate a Meat Plant in Denver,”
New York Times
, September 20, 1983; Judy Harrington, “Packing Company, Owner, Guilty of Selling Bad Meat to Government,”
AP
, September 15, 1984; and Neal Karlen with Jeff P. Copeland, “A ‘Mystery Meat’ Scandal,”
Newsweek
, September 24, 1984.

219
an eleven-year-old-boy became seriously ill:
For the Bauer Meat story, see Patricia Guthrie, “Government Says Bauer Meats Are Unfit to Eat,”
Atlanta Journal
, October 14, 1998; “Bauer Meat ‘Unfit for Human Consumption,’”
Meat Processing
, November 1, 1998; “Bacteria Wars: How 3 Processors Responded,”
St. Petersburg Times
, February 14, 1999; Robert Trigaux, “Tougher Standards Battle Meat Bacteria,”
St. Petersburg Times
, February 14, 1999; and “
E. Coli
Suit Principals Confer; Child’s Family Sues Florida Company,”
Florida Times-Union
, May 15, 1999.

a dozen children in Finley, Washington:
For the Northern States Beef story, see Elliott Jaspin and Scott Montgomery, “Feds Buy Bad Beef for Low Bid;
E. coli
Outbreak Results from School Lunch Program Supply System,”
Atlanta Journal
, March 28, 1999; and “Tainted School Tacos,”
Seattle Times
, May 8, 1999.

219
as much as 47 percent of the company’s ground beef:
See Bill Lodge, “Dallas Beef Plant That Failed
Salmonella
Tests Challenges Screening System,”
Dallas Morning News
, December 10, 1999; and Tiara Ellis and Michael Saul, “Dallas Meat Processor Recalls Beef After USDA Detects
E. coli
,”
Dallas Morning News
, December 26, 1999.

about 1.4 million illnesses:
Mead et al., “Food-Related Illness and Death.”

the USDA continued to purchase thousands of tons:
See Scott Montgomery and Elliot Jaspin, “USDA Purchased Meat from Texas Plant after Contamination Cited,”
Atlanta Journal
, Decmber 4, 1999.