They were already miffed when he walked in.
Members of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee who had to subpoena Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. President Steve Mendell were primed on Wednesday to scrutinize policies and procedures used by the plant connected to the largest beef recall in history.
"What I hope Mr. Mendell has learned is there is an easy way and a hard way to answer this committee's questions, but they will be answered," Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich) said at the start of the hearing.
Mendell began with an apology for not responding to earlier requests for his testimony, citing the chaos of the recall caused for him, his company and his family, which he later confirmed had included death threats. There is virtually no chance the now shuttered plant, which had 220 employees, will ever reopen, Mendell told the committee.
After the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) video became public, Mendell said the company hired all new pen workers and a new pen manager, installed 17 video cameras and hired a company to do 24/7 surveillance that noted animal welfare expert Temple Grandin would review on a weekly basis.
He also said the two arrested workers now facing charges for animal cruelty had been trained in animal handling. He submitted signed documents he said showed that the undercover videographer who worked at the plant for six weeks went through an orientation program, then two animal handling training sessions.
Who knew what when?
Much of the committee questioning focused on when Mendell viewed videos that showed downed cows in the knock box, prompting the assumption they entered the food supply. Mendell said he did not receive requested videos from USDA and said he was watching one of the videos shown at today's hearing for the first time.
That video led him to change testimony from his assertion that downer cattle were not processed to the conclusion that perhaps they were. He maintained, however, that processes further down the line, such as removal of specified risk materials, would have still safeguarded consumers from potentially tainted beef.
Asked what might have been different if HSUS had alerted the company in October when the video was shot instead of in January through a newspaper article, Mendell said he would have fired the workers and installed video cameras right away.
Source: Janie Gabbett on 3/12/2008 for Meatingplace.com