What they didn't tell you about recent meat recall

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What they didn't tell you about recent meat recall

By Stephen J. Hedges

Chicago Tribune

 

 

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WASHINGTON

— The largest meat recall in U.S. history was bound to reverberate

throughout the food-manufacturing world. So far, four major food

manufacturers — ConAgra, General Mills, Heinz and Nestlé — have

acknowledged that meat involved in the 143 million-pound recall,

announced Feb. 17, was used in some of their products.

So why haven't those products been recalled?

They have been — very quietly.

Nestlé, General Mills, Heinz and ConAgra each acknowledged to news

organizations that they have recalled products containing beef from the

meatpacking company Hallmark/Westland.

Those products include two versions of Nestlé's Hot Pocket

sandwiches, Heinz's Boston Market lasagna with meat sauce, General

Mills' Progresso Italian Wedding Soup and a variety of meat products

from ConAgra, ranging from Slim Jim snacks to Hunt's Manwich Original

Sloppy Joe Sauce.

The companies stressed that the use of Hallmark/Westland meat was

limited, and that they notified retailers and told them to pull those

products.

But none had taken the usual step of notifying consumers through

news releases and warnings on Web sites.

Why the secrecy? In part because the recall is indirect; the U.S.

Department of Agriculture (USDA) urged Hallmark/Westland to contact

food producers that use its meat and urge them to pull their products.

But the USDA did not contact food producers.

The food manufacturers said they are under

no obligation to notify consumers.

The Hallmark/Westland recall is considered a Class II recall under

U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, which means there is a

remote risk of adverse human-health effects.

But food-safety advocates said ordinary shoppers have been forgotten.

"It's better to fess up and be open and honest with your consumers,"

said Bill Marler, a lawyer who often sues companies on behalf of

food-poisoning victims. "It makes consumers more comfortable with your

product, not less comfortable."

 

 

 

 

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Company officials said their understanding was that the USDA wanted

them to notify only retailers. "There was not a requirement for public

notification through USDA because the health risk is negligible," said

Nestlé spokeswoman Roz O'Hearn.

General Mills spokeswoman Kirstie Foster said, "This is not a

consumer recall. According to USDA, consumers do not need to take

action."

ConAgra asked grocers carrying the affected products to remove them.

A spokeswoman said consumers will be reimbursed upon request, but the

company's Web sites don't mention that offer.

Heinz said only a "small portion" of recalled ground beef was used

in its lasagna and it is working with stores "to ensure the recalled

product is removed from store shelves."

Amanda Eamich, of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said

the department's recall directly named only Hallmark/Westland, not its

customers. But USDA did tell Hallmark/Westland to ask the manufacturers

that use its meat to pull their products. She acknowledged the agency

did not ask that consumers be notified.

"Companies can certainly choose to do so if they'd like," Eamich

said. "But our goal is to make sure that products are controlled and

destroyed."

Hallmark/Westland and the USDA announced the meat recall after the

Humane Society of the United States released a video that showed dairy

cows bound for slaughter being mistreated at the company's Chino,

Calif., slaughter plant.

The mistreated cows were "downers," unable to stand because of

undetermined ailments. The slaughter of downers is strictly regulated;

the USDA requires an inspection, and only those whose ailments pose no

risk to food, such as a broken leg, can be slaughtered.

The video led to the recall and to the closing of the Chino plant

and criminal charges against two former Hallmark/Westland employees.

The USDA is conducting an investigation and has put two inspectors who

were working at the plant on administrative leave.

Richard Raymond, the USDA undersecretary for food safety, told

Congress last week that recalled Hallmark/Westland meat went to more

than 10,000 distributors and food manufacturers, including the USDA's

own nutrition programs — including the school-lunch program — which

bought 50 million pounds of meat.

About 100 school districts in Washington state, including in

Seattle, received raw beef from Hallmark/Westland in November and

December. In late January, the USDA advised schools to stop using the

beef.

Raymond said USDA regulations prevent the department from disclosing

Hallmark/Westland's customers because such information is considered

proprietary. Food-safety groups argued for lifting that restriction.

The food producers involved emphasized that their use of

Hallmark/Westland meat was limited.

"A very small amount of those products is impacted," said Teresa

Paulsen, of ConAgra. "That's because we produced product with beef

sourced from Westland on only a few days. In fact, less than two-tenths

of 1 percent of our overall product volume is impacted."

Foster, of General Mills, said Hallmark/Westland was not a supplier

to the company. Instead, she said, the meat company was a vendor to one

of General Mills' suppliers and the recalled meat made it into 35,000

cases of Progresso Italian Wedding Soup "for a very short time."

Nestlé's O'Hearn said the Hallmark/Westland recall affected the

company "in a very minor way" and just "two days of production on one

line in one facility" are being recalled.

Marler, the lawyer, criticized the department for its handling of

the Hallmark/Westland recall, which he said was too broad to be

effective. The recall covered meat produced from Feb. 1, 2006, to Feb.

2, 2008, an unusually long period for perishable food.

USDA officials said most of the recalled meat likely had been

consumed. They said no illnesses linked to the meat have been reported.

Material from The Seattle Times archives is included in this

report.