"I try to stay away from beef," said shopper Samir Rana."I figure if it's going to happen with one manufacturer, it might happen with the next," said JoEllen Bilgo.
(Source: TMJ4, Milwaukee, WI)
>PS: Are you grinding beef?Get on top of the problem now or get out of the business.
“It's outdated, under-funded and overwhelmed ... full of both wasteful overlap and dangerous gaps in oversight ... and in desperate need of additional resources and updated authority."
(Source: Reuters News Service, September 28, 2007)
Senator Dick Durbin, D-IL, telling a food policy conference that there are serious shortcomings in the U.S. food safety system.
>PS: An elected official that knows how to count votes!Who knew?
''I think the American meat supply is the safest in the world. A recall like this does show that we are on the job, we are doing our inspections, our investigation, and we respond when we find problems to make sure that supply is safe.''
(Source: New York Times, October 1, 2007
Dr. Richard Raymond, USDA undersecretary of food safety, respectfully disagreeing with Senator Durbin.
>PS: Doc, how many times do I have to say it?It ain’t the facts that count, it’s the perception.The public is losing faith quickly.Talk with Samir Rana or JoEllen Bilgo.
“However, systems are not perfect. We will cooperate fully in assessing the efficacy of the many systems in operation and are committed to working with USDA to ensure that underlying controls are supported and verified to assure the public that the necessary food safety interventions are in place.”
(Source: AMI press release, October 4, 2007)
James H. Hodges, AMI Foundation President, on what the industry is prepared to do to attack the E. coli 0157:H7 problem.
>PS: In a word (or three) – everything humanly possible.
"It’s like the old BuffaloSpringfield song, ‘Somethin’s happenin’ here, what it is ain’t exactly clear."
(Source: MEAT&POULTRY, September 2007)
Bill Marler, chief partner at Marler Clark L.L.P., the attorney who won the original multi-million dollar Jack in the Box judgments against the beef industry 14 years ago, talking about the recent increase in E. coli cases.
>PS:‘60 Minutes’ knocking at your door?No problem.Now Bill Marler is another story altogether.
"The agency is not completely satisfied with the timetable between first receiving [positive PFGE findings on Sept. 14] and issuance of the recall.Since Sept. 25, in addition to issuing the recall, we have begun reviewing data related to the recall and our protocols to determine how we can improve in how we conduct them in future."
(Source: Meatingplace.com. October 5, 2007)
Dr. David Goldman, FSIS assistant administrator of the Office of Public Health Science, talking about the Topps recall.
PS: For those of you who aren’t fluent in bureaucratese, Goldman admitted the FSIS screwed up by not starting the recall sooner and hopes to not repeat the screw up again.
And the not quite final word from Topps
“This is tragic for all concerned.In one week we have gone from the largest U.S. manufacturer of frozen hamburgers to a company that cannot overcome the economic reality of a recall this large.”
(Source: New York Times, October 5, 2007)
Anthony D’Urso, the chief operating officer at Topps, saying the company was unable to withstand the financial burden of the recall.
>PS: The tragedy is compounded, of course, by the illnesses of perhaps dozens of people who ate the contaminated meat.
>PPS: The final words, of course, will come from the legion of lawyers who are gathering at the door.