>>>To prepare for the Capitol Hill debut next week, the USDA offered samples to Secretary Tom Vilsack,<<< >>>who tried more than a dozen products, including canned green beans, apple slices and hamburger patties.<<< Greetings, Holy mad cow, this will be just like those token slaughter house inspections and such they do for Japan, Korea, and the other trading partners. Tell them way in advance, and then serve em up the best. Give me a break. I wonder if some of those Congressman/woman were served up some dead stock downer cows, the most high risk cattle for mad cow disease, and other dangerous pathogens, like our children were for 4+ years, via the NSLP ? This should have NEVER happened. No, we must not let them forget. They refuse to speak of it, and I can't forget. It must not happen again. Hopefully, all this is not just hot air coming out of Washington, and indeed Congress plans on cleaning house. I have seen this hot air before, time and time again, and in the end, nothing but hot air. Case in point, the mad cow feed ban of August 4, 1997, and the Surveillance for BSE and other TSE. Your only kidding yourself if you don't think these children were not exposed to high risk dead stock downers. it should never happen again. but they hid it under the guise, (the beef recall), the largest ever (at that time), they mask this beef recall as 'animal abuse'. I don't get it. How was this beef tainted by animal abuse? I don't condone animal abuse, but what about child abuse ? and who will watch our children for the next 5+ decades for CJD ? with our CJD human TSE surveillance system in the USA, even if they are detected (?), they will go down as sporadic, or some odd phenotype that is spontaneous or some odd TSE from nothing $ The PrP TSE mad cow agent in humans can incubate up to 50+ years in some cases, in other cases, not so long. so, come back in 50+ years and confirm this. junk science, industry friendly regulations, and or just not complying with existing regulations have been rampant over the past 12 years I have been paying attention, it has been the norm. maybe sound science will prevail in the end, maybe not. but feeding children diseased and sick cows via the NSLP was flat wrong, and anyone that thinks the largest beef recall there from, was just because a few animals were abused, well, they too are just flat wrong as well. ... WHO WILL WATCH THE CHILDREN FOR CJD OVER THE NEXT 5 + DECADES ??? Do you actually believe that the USDA et al jumped in on the law suit against Westland/Hallmark, at the time the largest beef recall in USA history, just because a few animals were abused on a video, or to cover their ass, for letting our children, from school district to school district, from state to state, be fed dead stock downer cows. >>> In the papers, the government alleges the meatpacking plant slaughtered and processed downer cows for nearly four years — from January 2004 to September 2007 — at the average rate of one every six weeks... <<< http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2009/09/suit-meatpacker-used-downer-cows-for-4.html Do you actually believe all these schools recalled this meat because of a few cattle being abused, see list ; FNS All Regions Affected School Food Authorities By State United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service National School Lunch Program March 24, 2008 School Food Authorities Affected by Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. Beef Recall February 2006 - February 2008 http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/safety/Hallmark-Westland_byState.pdf IF url does not work above, go to this link to find out if any of your children and their school were part of this recall ; go to this site ; http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/ left hand corner search ; Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. Beef Recall your should get this ; http://65.216.150.153/texis/search?pr=FNS 1 through 1 of 1 matching documents, best matches first. sort by date 1: Hallmark - Westland SFA Reporting by State - 3-24-2008.xls Lunch Program March 24, 2008 School Food Authorities Affected by Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. Beef Recall February 2006 - February 2008 The U.S. Department of Agriculture ... http://www.fns.usda.gov/...ety/Hallmark-Westland_byState.pdf PLEASE SEE ALSO ; Members of The HSUS are also concerned about the meat products provided to their children through the National School Lunch Program. More than 31 million school children receive lunches through the program each school day. To assist states in providing healthful, low-cost or free meals, USDA provides states with various commodities including ground beef. As evidenced by the HallmarkNVestland investigation and recall, the potential for downed animals to make their way into the National School Lunch Program is neither speculative nor hypothetical. http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cases/FDA/hsus-v-schafer-usda-complaint.pdf Over the next 8-10 weeks, approximately 40% of all the adult mink on the farm died from TME. snip... The rancher was a ''dead stock'' feeder using mostly (>95%) downer or dead dairy cattle... http://web.archive.org/web/20030516051623/http://www.bseinquiry.gov.uk/files/mb/m09/tab05.pdf PLEASE SEE FULL TEXT ; Wednesday, December 16, 2009 Congress to Sample School Lunches http://downercattle.blogspot.com/2009/12/congress-to-sample-school-lunches.html