A Delicious Life

Yesterday, the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing company voluntarily recalled 143 million pounds of beef - dating back from February 1, 2006. It is the largest U.S. beef recall in history, and it was prompted by concerns that downer cattle may have been abused to pass slaughter inspection. About 37 million pounds of the beef was sold to national school lunch programs. This undercover video, made by the Humane Society of the United States, shows some of the abuses the cattle suffered. Warning - it is graphic.

And for anyone who thinks that American beef is safe because the U.S.D.A. says so, according to the New York Times, there have been 3 confirmed cases of cattle with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, since 2003. If those are the confirmed cases, how many unconfirmed cases are there?More links about the recall:
Reuters
CNN
LA Times
Gothamist