289948 Mon Jul 29 05:11:50 -0700 2002 9 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1571560 Is anyone else as creeped out as I am by the enormous ConAgra ground beef recall? Looking to answer another query I pulled up the document linked below. Besides the sheer size of the recall, one of things really bugging me is while ConAgra is identified as the distributor of the contaminated meat, no one's piping up to tell consumers WHERE this meat conceivably ended up. ConAgra's huge - just visit their site and check out all those familiar brands (including lotsa hotdogs -Hebrew National, Armour for instance). And they've got a whole food service company - here they're talking about their raw meat " processed under the industry's most stringent food safety standards" (http://www.conagrafoodservice.com/about_us_companies.asp?fCid=8 ). I got 18.6 million pounds of stringently processed ground beef right here for ya, ConAgra And then reading along, I come to this charming passage: "All 16 patients ate ground beef that was purchased at grocery chain A during June 10--24. E. coli O157 was cultured from an opened package of ground beef collected from a patient's home. A traceback by CDPHE of ground beef collected from a patient's home indicated that it was reground by grocery chain A with meat produced on May 31 by ConAgra Beef Company." Oh, so not only is the contamination massive at the slaughterhouse, then even MORE meat is contaminated at the grocery store level. It's starting to sound like some really twisted version of homeopathic medicine - maybe if they get EVERYONE sick, our DNA will get active and we'll just whip this E coli 0157:H7 sucker! As someone who loves to eat out. I'm getting angrier and angrier about how much contaminated food is out there. As an ex-chef I can tell you that it is extremely likely that most of your favorite inexpensive restaurants do business with a ConAgra or their brethern. And I don't trust any of them as far as I can spit. I hate having to go to a restraunt and first eliminate from consideration any menu items or ingredients I believe likely to be a health hazard. I apply the same rules here in the US that I used to use travelling in third-world countries - and why not? It seems I've become sick as often here as I have in Asia or Mexico. Of course, I'm not talking about every restaurant, every burger. I still love food, and I am trying to stay that way. But I know, I can FEEL, how pervasive the corporate anonymous ingredients have become and coupled with some of the food handling practices I've seen in restaurants it frankly scares me. So flame away folks, I just wanted to get this off my chest PS: For dinner tonight we had rare hamburgers, made from Niman chuck I ground half an hour before cooking. The baby had a just a patty, but for her I cooked it well. So, you see, I haven't turned into a food-phobic-phreak; I just want to have the same level of confidence eating out that I do eating something I make myself. Link: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5129a1.htm Mon Jul 29 05:11:50 -0700 2002 0 Christine DiBona 1 1571561 No flames here amigo... My most serious, nasty, crippling, revolting cases of food poisioning were her in the homeland, not abroad. Like you again, it hasn't turned me into any sort of phobe. I am simply reminded that the "third world" has often been kinder to my GI tract than the good ole USA has. CHOW!!! Mon Jul 29 05:21:01 -0700 2002 1571560 0 Brandon Nelson 1 1571568 This probably won't make you feel any better........ but.... The tainted beef was shipped to the following states: Colorado Alabama Virginia Maryland New Mexico Kansas Michigan Texas Wyoming Montana Nebraska New York California Illinois Iowa Tennessee New Jersey Minnesota Arizona Idaho Mon Jul 29 08:51:03 -0700 2002 1571560 0 TR 1 1571569 I'm also unhappy about the amount of time it took for the recall to be issued: months, if I'm not mistaken. USDA: the finest inspectors lobbyists can buy.... Mon Jul 29 09:16:36 -0700 2002 1571560 0 david in nola 1 1571589 Two more things to think about: The tainted beef was intentionally (knowingly) fed to prisoners in a Colorado corrections facility. No one got sick; it was cooked to an approprate temperature, but imagine the risk. What an incredible waste of animals. The lesson, learned again, is that the only safe ground beef is the stuff you grind for yourself. Mon Jul 29 11:42:52 -0700 2002 1571560 0 Greg Spence 1 1571651 no flame from me either. The USDA is in charge of PROMOTING beef and pork and chicken and milk and eggs. Why the heck do we let them tell us all the time that these thigns are perfectly safe. why do we believe them when they say that they are looking out for our safety? they are not! the USDA does not have the power to demand a recall of tainted beef. ConAgra _volunteers_ to have a recall. imagine if this were that stupid pokemon ball or a tricycle that blew up and they took months after testing these things knowing the safety level. Tue Jul 30 07:48:49 -0700 2002 1571560 0 renee 2 1571670 I agree that in many ways the Dept of Ag's represents industry instead of the consumer. You ask WHY? It's because money speaks louder than votes until we reach such a crisis that even Congress goes into a panic. Then Congresspeople abandon their free market ideological cant and/or ignore the corporate donors and their lobbiests who, BTW, often actually write the language of the legislation of the laws that govern us. Without commenting on the merits of the legislation itself, the virtually unanimous votes of the last week against corporate financial reporting abuses are an instance of this process. The very Congresspeople who have over the past 10-20 years stripped away the regulations and financial support for their enforcement, when confronted with the results and the anger of the millions of people who were left unprotected, are abandoning their "free market principles" as fast as their fingers can push the "yes" button to corporate regulation. We all too often are faced with the reality of one (wo)man, one vote, one dollar one vote. We have seen this with energy, with the stability of stock values, food protection, etc. - the list goes on. And before we rant against our politicians' solicitation of corporate and wealthy campaign donors - however much they may deserve it - we should look to the now all too consolidated lapdog major media who substitute PR handouts for independent investigative journalism. And we should look to ourselves for not taking the time to inform ourselves, for being swayed (despite our protestation of our "independent" thinking) by advertising and spin. There is a zeitgeist of free market, personal responsibility, damn the politicians, damn the media, and damn the lawyers and judges that has substituted condemnation for holding these classes accountable to the people they serve. We are in the paradoxical position of railing impotently against these classes as a group instead of holding them accountable as individuals. If you are, rightly in my opinion, dismayed by the lack of protection of consumers by the Dept of Agriculture, the Secty of Health, etc., do you write THEM and the President and Congress that appoint and confirm them? or merely grouse about it? This is not directed at you personally, renee, but at all of us who do not. I give a link below that will bring you addresses to contact your Representatives and Senators. Please, this is not intended in a partisan attitude. Even if you don't share my specific views on the issues, I would hope that you inform yourself and make your views known to the people who represent you in Washington. Also to keep yourself better informed, take advantage of the web to read alternative news sources from Mother Earth and Alternet to the Bull Moose, reviewing the full spectrum of news and opinion rather than just those that share your personal prejudices. I am often surprised by the soundness of some information I get from people whose opinions I do not share. For a couple sites that link to diverse information see: http://www.aldaily.com/ and http://www.drudgereport.com/ If you know of others, share them with us. To contact the Senators and Representatives: Senate: http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index_by_state.cfm Representatives: http://www.house.gov/ Tue Jul 30 10:44:26 -0700 2002 1571651 0 saucyknave 3 1571750 A well thought out and presented case to get people more involved in the things that determine our collective health , good job . Tue Jul 30 23:58:16 -0700 2002 1571670 0 GoalieJeff 1 1571699 What a coincidence... I just finished "Fast Food Nation" (excellent book) and the usual suspect, ConAgra, recalls all this beef. Most of the times there's a recall, we're the last to know. ConAgra is hoping we'll eat all the meat before it can be found and sent back. Nothing has really changes since Upton Cinclair wrote the Jungle a centruy ago--- except that now the government is part of the BS machine. ConAgra has dozens of high-powered lobbyists--- and we have tainted meat. Tue Jul 30 13:13:05 -0700 2002 1571560 0 andy huse 1 1571751 I just posted to another thread about how I am the only person I know who still cleans his own whole chickens , ( already slaughtered and plucked but the best I can do ) it's been said before and I'm sure you know , but grind it yourself man , get it from the most reputable butcher you can find , this is our health we are talking about here . Are you gonna trust the FDA ? I hate to go off on a tangent , but here goes . I live in Michigan ,and for years , have consumed venison , believing it to be wild , and therefore healthier than grocery bought beef , ( whose woes you have already pointed out . ) Now I find that because of lax cattle management , urban sprawl , and DNR deregulation , our wild deer population in the region where I could hunt has bovine TB , possibly CJD , and maybe cronic wasting disease . I have a freezer full of absolutely awesome venison double stock . ( Well not full , but maybe 6 gallons . ) Do I eat it ? I already have eaten a lot of it . It makes sublime morel risotto . Point is , how can we EVER be esure our food is safe ? Wed Jul 31 00:11:40 -0700 2002 1571560 0 GoalieJeff