Paging Mr. Sinclair, Mr. Upton Sinclair...
One hundred years later:
Yes, that's right. They've been producing potentially contaminated beef for a YEAR.
It's fun living in the third world, isn't it?
Thank goodness for the Republican Party, and particularly the Bush administration, doing its best to free us from the burden of government regulation and enforcement.
The wording of the statement from the company featured some language I eagerly anticipate ending up on Harry Schearer's Le Show:
To be fair, the meat industry is nowhere near as gruesome as it was a hundred years ago, when Sinclair wrote The Jungle. But it does seem to me that if the plant were being operated properly, not only would they not have shipped meat carrying a dangerous, potentially fatal, strain of bacteria from cow manure, but in the event of some system failure, regular hygienic procedures and inspections would mean they'd have finer control than 21.7 million pounds and one year.
That just doesn't seem like the kind of quality that 21st century citizens of the preeminent industrialized economy in the world ought to accept. But then, I have always been big on that "promote the general welfare" clause in the Preamble to the Constitution. Seems like, if we're going to have a society where giant industrial facilities produce food products, we ought to have means to ensure that those products are safe and won't kill people.
At the risk of sounding like a one-note, it does occur to me that the some of the "extra" $42 billion the administration just asked to spend on Iraq would pay for tighter inspections and the cleaning up a lot of food processing facilities.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Topps Meat Co. on Saturday expanded a recall of ground beef from about 300,000 pounds to 21.7 million pounds, one of the largest meat recalls in U.S. history.In case you were too stunned by the idea of nearly twenty-two MILLION pounds of ground beef, take a good look at those dates.
In a statement, the Elizabeth, New Jersey, company said the hamburger patties may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, a bacterium that can cause severe diarrhea and cramps, as well as other complications.
A statement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture said 25 illnesses are under investigation in Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The ground beef products being recalled have a "sell by date" or a "best if used by date" between September 25, 2007, and September 25, 2008, Topps' statement said.
Yes, that's right. They've been producing potentially contaminated beef for a YEAR.
It's fun living in the third world, isn't it?
Thank goodness for the Republican Party, and particularly the Bush administration, doing its best to free us from the burden of government regulation and enforcement.
The wording of the statement from the company featured some language I eagerly anticipate ending up on Harry Schearer's Le Show:
"Because the health and safety of our consumers is our top priority, we are taking these expansive measures," said Vice President of Operations Geoffrey Livermore in the statement.Apparently, it is now their top priority, because if it had been their top priority before, they wouldn't be recalling the ground beef they've been producing FOR THE PAST YEAR.
To be fair, the meat industry is nowhere near as gruesome as it was a hundred years ago, when Sinclair wrote The Jungle. But it does seem to me that if the plant were being operated properly, not only would they not have shipped meat carrying a dangerous, potentially fatal, strain of bacteria from cow manure, but in the event of some system failure, regular hygienic procedures and inspections would mean they'd have finer control than 21.7 million pounds and one year.
That just doesn't seem like the kind of quality that 21st century citizens of the preeminent industrialized economy in the world ought to accept. But then, I have always been big on that "promote the general welfare" clause in the Preamble to the Constitution. Seems like, if we're going to have a society where giant industrial facilities produce food products, we ought to have means to ensure that those products are safe and won't kill people.
At the risk of sounding like a one-note, it does occur to me that the some of the "extra" $42 billion the administration just asked to spend on Iraq would pay for tighter inspections and the cleaning up a lot of food processing facilities.
posted by Paul at 4:04 PM |
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