[IP] : USDA m.o.u. forbids giving out "proprietary" info about whereBSE-tainted beef ended up!
-----Original Message-----
From: Wulf Losee <qx49@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2004 16:19:13
To:dave Farber <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: USDA m.o.u. forbids giving out "proprietary" info about where
BSE-tainted beef ended up!
Dave:
This was in Saturday's SF Chronicle. Evidently, I have to depend on the
honesty of my grocer to tell me whether I may have bought BSE-tainted beef,
because the USDA has a memorandum of understanding with the State of CA
that the info won't be given out the public (!). Am I the only one who
seems shocked by this?
Considering that over 150 people in Britain died from BSE, and that the
USDA is insisting that there "is no health risk", we ought to insist that
Ann Veneman and her senior staff should be forced to eat from this recalled
beef.
--Wulf
From Saturday's SF Chronicle...
State can't say who sold beef
Rules bar telling which stores, restaurants had tainted meat
Sabin Russell, Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writers Saturday,
January
3, 2004
Meat from a Washington state slaughterhouse that contained cuts from a lone
cow that tested positive for mad cow disease was sold in as many as nine
California counties, but current rules forbid the state or counties from
telling consumers exactly where recalled meat was sold.
California Department of Health Services officials have begun notifying
counties that meat from a recalled lot of 10,410 pounds of Washington state
beef had been tracked to retailers, but also warned counties not to
identify which stores or restaurants purchased it.
Alameda and Santa Clara counties have been informed by the state that 11
local restaurants and a market purchased soup bones from the suspect lot,
but they have also declined to identify which establishments purchased them.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture insists the recall is precautionary and
the meat poses no health risk.
According to USDA spokesman Matthew Baun, it's up to consumers to check
with their grocers, butchers or restaurants to find out if any of the
recalled meat may have landed on their tables.
"We are prohibited from releasing information that companies would consider
proprietary,'' he explained. "If you are concerned whether you may have
purchased the product, you can call your retail store. They would know. ..
. The only way to know for sure is to contact stores."
All this secrecy is grounded in USDA rules surrounding the voluntary nature
of tainted meat recalls, and in an 18-month-old memorandum of understanding
that arose in an earlier tainted-meat episode. The memorandum was agreed to
between the federal agency, California and several other states, and was
meant to give states a bigger role in verifying that the recall was working.
<snip>
complete story at
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/03/MNGJF4315K1.DTL
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/