Although the food supply in the
United States is safer than it used to be, food-borne disease still remains a
public health problem, resulting in seventy six million cases a year. In 1906,
the Congress passed the Meat and Inspection Act, because of Upton Sinclair’s
book, The Jungle. Sinclair’s work
really portrayed the disease ridden, unsanitary Chicago slaughterhouse, which
started the United States Department of Agriculture requirements for “more
sanitary” conditions. The term E. coli came from the hamburgers served by the
Jack in the Box restaurant chain in late 1992. Throughout Washington, Idaho,
California, and Nevada there was a result of 722 cases, 171 hospitalizations,
and 4 deaths from the hamburgers served. Since the establishment of the Food
and Drug Administration, government policy makers have not always protected
consumers from tainted or unsafe products, and have not always made sure labels
accurately reflect the content of packaging; a product labeled “ground beef”
contains more than just ground beef.
After the Jack in the Box outbreak, Americans started becoming more aware of the sanitary of the beef they consumed. In 2007, 33.4 million pounds of beef was recalled in the United States because of bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella. The United States Department of Agriculture says they "protect consumers from the dangers of E. coli contamination by adopting a zero tolerance policy for six additional strains; E. coli 026, 045, 0103, 0111, 0121, and 145 of the pathogens in raw beef" (USDA). The USDA estimates to prevent nearly 25,00 food-borne illnesses yearly. Until the twentieth century, food safety was responsible for state and local. Now, the FDA of the Department of Health and Humans Services and FSIS of USDA have responsibility for our food supply. The FSIS has inspection for meat, and is supposed to inspect the animal before and after slaughter.
After the Jack in the Box outbreak, Americans started becoming more aware of the sanitary of the beef they consumed. In 2007, 33.4 million pounds of beef was recalled in the United States because of bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella. The United States Department of Agriculture says they "protect consumers from the dangers of E. coli contamination by adopting a zero tolerance policy for six additional strains; E. coli 026, 045, 0103, 0111, 0121, and 145 of the pathogens in raw beef" (USDA). The USDA estimates to prevent nearly 25,00 food-borne illnesses yearly. Until the twentieth century, food safety was responsible for state and local. Now, the FDA of the Department of Health and Humans Services and FSIS of USDA have responsibility for our food supply. The FSIS has inspection for meat, and is supposed to inspect the animal before and after slaughter.
In 2009, The New York Times
featured a story about 22 year old, Stephanie Smith. Smith started with cramps
and aches, leading to bloody diarrhea, shut down of the kidneys, and then
seizures. After being put into a coma for nine weeks, waking up incapable of
walking, and paralyzed, investigation led back to hamburgers her mother grilled. I found this source especially useful, because it is something I can relate to. My parents grill hamburgers all the time for my family and guest, and it is terrifying to think that one of us could wake up in a coma, or paralyzed. The hamburger was from the popular food brand Cargill. Little did Smith know
these hamburgers labeled “American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties” were
filled with E. coli. The contamination occurs when a cow’s intestinal or fecal
matter comes into contact with muscle meat during unsanitary slaughter. Smiths’
hamburger was half fat, half meat, making it the cheapest meat for 60 cents a
pound. Over the past three years, ground beef has caused 16 outbreaks leading
to the recall of ground beef from 3,000 grocery stores.
I was shocked to learn that ground
beef is not only meat, but sometimes meat not only from different parts of the
cow, but also different slaughter houses. Records prove the patty Smith
consumed was made with trimmings in a slaughterhouse mixed with mush scraps
from Wisconsin. Ingredients were from slaughterhouses in Nebraska, Texas, and
Uruguay. These slaughterhouses use ammonia to kill bacteria in the fat
trimmings. Cargill thinks the suppliers check for E. coli, but the trimmings of
this cow are prone to have contact with feces, which contain E. coli. All the
USDA did was encourage them to test the ingredients better first. The USDA says
they "began testing additional components of ground beef and issued new instructions to employees asking that they they verify that plants follow sanitary practices in processing beef carcasses" (USDA). The USDA also said they were requiring labels so buyers will know if
the meat contains additives, but the government is accepting that additives in
meat is a “trade secret” allowing Cargill to sell the beef without labeling the
additives.
On March 12, 2012, ABC featured an announcement of “pink slime”. Pink slime is a cheap filler in 70 percent of ground beef, sold at the grocery store and 25 percent of every American hamburger. Kit Foshee is a corporate quality assurance manager at a company that makes pink slime, Beef Products Inc. Foshee says, “It looks like play dough..its pink and frozen, it’s not what the typical person would consider meat” (Foshee). The trimmings come from the most contaminated parts of the cow, once used only in dog food and cooking oil. The USDA says it is safe to eat, because “BPI’s trimmings simmering them in low heat, separating fat and tissue using a centrifuge, and spraying them with ammonia gas kills germs” (USDA). Consumers began to worry about the meat they were consuming, but the USDA agreed that lean, finely textured beef is safe. Grocery stores such as Publix, Star Market, Walmart, Sams Club, and Kroger started carrying beef that does not contain LFTB, because people did not feel safe to consume meat containing pink slime. After the incident of pink slime in 2012, it made a comeback in 2014, but was not as heard of as it was in 2012. After the ABC News special on the additive, BPI went down from nearly 5.5 million pounds a week to now producing one million pounds a week.
On March 12, 2012, ABC featured an announcement of “pink slime”. Pink slime is a cheap filler in 70 percent of ground beef, sold at the grocery store and 25 percent of every American hamburger. Kit Foshee is a corporate quality assurance manager at a company that makes pink slime, Beef Products Inc. Foshee says, “It looks like play dough..its pink and frozen, it’s not what the typical person would consider meat” (Foshee). The trimmings come from the most contaminated parts of the cow, once used only in dog food and cooking oil. The USDA says it is safe to eat, because “BPI’s trimmings simmering them in low heat, separating fat and tissue using a centrifuge, and spraying them with ammonia gas kills germs” (USDA). Consumers began to worry about the meat they were consuming, but the USDA agreed that lean, finely textured beef is safe. Grocery stores such as Publix, Star Market, Walmart, Sams Club, and Kroger started carrying beef that does not contain LFTB, because people did not feel safe to consume meat containing pink slime. After the incident of pink slime in 2012, it made a comeback in 2014, but was not as heard of as it was in 2012. After the ABC News special on the additive, BPI went down from nearly 5.5 million pounds a week to now producing one million pounds a week.
The USDA dictates what is labeled
on the packaging of ground beef. "The USDA regulates meat and poultry in the US, ensuring all meat and poultry for commercial sale is produced with government inspectors present. As a result of weak regulations and lack of control over meat companies, the USDA has still failed to effectively safeguard the US meat supply, creating an ongoing threat to consumer health" (Grace Communications Foundation). "The HACCP system allows inspection to be done by the meat
companies themselves, reducing the involvement of USDA inspectors. The major
problem with this is meat companies are not going to stop production to take
care of contaminated meat. Under the
HACCP, the USDA discouraged inspectors from stopping the production line if
there is any suspicion of contamination, because it slows down the process of
the production line. The USDA cannot demand the recall of meat, but can talk
with the company, letting them deal with the problem on their own. The USDA
cannot shut down an organization if it does not meet sanitation requirements.
In 2002, Public Citizen and the Government Accountability Project discovered
that after a facility tested positive for Salmonella, the ground beef
processing organization was allowed to sell the ground beef for several months
before cleaning up the facilities" (Grace Communications Foundation).
The FDA and USDA say they protect
consumers from the dangers of bacteria in raw meat, but really the USDA is not
labeling additives because the government agrees it is a “trade secret”. Although I knew there might be something in my food that was not healthy, I did not know that the label did not have everything on it. I love to eat, but now I am scared if I eat a burger it could contain pink slime. Or, in even worse cases, I am now scared I could be paralyzed from eating a cheeseburger. The
FDA takes years to act upon dangerous bacteria in food. Out of the 11,000
employees in the FDA, only four people at headquarters check food labels.
-I used this site to learn that there are 76 million cases a
year of food-borne disease. I also used this site to learn about the 2007
incident of more than 20 beef recalls (33.4 million pounds) in the United
States. This site was valuable, but I did not use much of the information from
it throughout my paper.
-I only used this site for one sentence of my paper. I did
not like the set up of this website, but I was taught about Upton Sinclair’s
book, The Jungle, and how it started
the USDA requirements for more sanitary conditions.
-This was a government based website, so I knew the majority
of it would be leaning towards the side of what people want to hear instead of
what is true. From this site, I learned how the USDA is said to protect
consumers from the dangers of E. coli by a zero tolerance policy for six
strands. This site was very helpful, teaching me a lot about the USDA. For example,
how the USDA estimates 25,000 food-borne illnesses yearly. I learned about the
“test and hold” policy and how the USDA is requiring labels so buyers will know
if meat contains additives, but I used information from a non-governmental site
to state how the USDA is failing on labeling additives. I used information from
this site all throughout my paper, disagreeing with it.
-This website was also a government run website. I used the
information about how the FSIS has inspection for meat, poultry and egg
products. FDA has responsibility over the rest of the food supply. I also
learned and used in paper that until they 20th century, food safety
was responsible for state and local, and in 1906 congress passed the meat and
inspection act.
-This website was very reliable, because it is from ABC
News. I used the facts about Pink Slime in 70 percent of ground beef sold at
the grocery store and 25% of every American hamburger. I also used the quote
from Kit Foshee, a manager at a company that sells pink slime. The USDA said
its safe to eat, because ammonia kills the bacteria. I used many facts from
this reliable source all throughout my paper.
-This source was another reliable ABC News article. After
learning about the nasty “play dough” like mush added into ground beef, I
wanted to make sure I was not consuming that. This website stated that the USDA
agreed LFTB was safe to eat, but grocery stored stopped carrying it.
-I really did not use much from this
website except for the fact that pink slime made a comeback in 2014.
-This website was the most interesting website that I
researched. After learning about Stephanie Smiths E. coli contamination,
leaving her in a 9-week coma and paralyzed, makes me never want to eat a
hamburger again. I was frightened to
learn how ground beef is not just meat but usually meat from different parts of
the cow and different slaughterhouses. It was absolutely nasty that her “American
Chef’s Angus Beef Patties” was made with trimmings in a slaughterhouse mixed
with mush from scraps in Wisconsin, using ammonia to kill bacteria. After
reading this terrifying story, I never want to eat a burger again. I dedicated
an entire paragraph to this story.
-This site was used in my introduction. I added the number
of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from the Jack in the Box E. coli
outbreak. The site went into detail on E. coli, but I stuck to my topic.
-I used this site to learn more
about meat inspection. This website explained in depth how the USDA regulates
meat in the United States, and ensures that the meat is safe and produced with
government inspectors present. Resulting in weak regulations and lack of
control over meat companies, the USDA has still failed to effectively make sure
the US meat supply is safe. The HACCP system allows inspection to be done by
the meat companies themselves, reducing the involvement of USDA inspectors. This
website proved to me how the USDA does not fulfill all the things they say they
do.
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| Number of deaths a year from 1996-2009 from E.coli. |
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| This play dough looking putty is actually pink slime. This cheap filler is placed into ground beef, labeled lean finely textured beef. |
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| This is Stephanie Smith, the young lady who ate the Cargill hamburger filled with E. coli, leaving her in a 9-week coma, then paralyzed. |
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| These are the beginning signs of E. coli, now every time I have any of these pains, I will be paranoid. |
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| This an example of a slaughterhouse with all of the cows lined up. |
