my, am i still off topic...RE: a meating place critiques frontline's modern meat

[Guest guest]

listen here goi-yum...

 

come on...i spent a portion of my lil fraggle existence in connecticut and

nyc...

 

and, no, never heard that NOFX song...last album i bought by them was " longest

line " ..last time i saw them, they threatened to beat me up because i wrote a not

shining review about them..hahahaha

 

(granted, this was like 1990...)

 

poor fraggle...born in SoCal..spent his winters in the Northeast, summers in

SoCal..boi, was he messed up

fraggle

" jojo " <tofujojo wrote:

 

>How do you know a word like kvetch?!  I demand to know!

>

>Have you heard NOFX's The Brews?  That is the funniest song I have *ever*

>heard and it is probably totally lost on people unfamiliar with terms like

>meshoogena and shiksas, etc...

>

>--jojo

>-

><EBbrewpunx

><eco_vegans >; <TFHB >;

><vegan-network >; ;

><veganhumpers >; <veganmania >

>Monday, April 22, 2002 4:35 PM

> a meating place critiques frontline's " modern meat "

>

>

>> i luv the fact, that even tho he ka-vetches and whines and name calls, he

>doesn't really offer any real arguments...

>>

>> Meating Place, an information provider for the red meat and poultry

>> industries.

>>

>> COMMENTARY: Frontline's phony 'expose' as fraudulent as it gets

>> by Dan Murphy on 4/19/02 for www.meatingplace.com

>>

>> I hardly ever turn on the TV without subconsciously reminding myself that

>> the sitcom or the " based-on-a-true-event " movie I might end up watching

>> isn't an actual event. The beautiful people, the fabulous houses, the

>> Baywatch babes -- it's all artificial.

>>

>> Okay the silicone on the latter show is real, but if there were

>> truth-in-labeling laws for television shows, those beach scenes would have

>> to be advertised as " 100 percent fact-free programming. "

>>

>> My little reality check came in handy prior to Wednesday's airing of

> " Modern

>> Meat, " a Frontline crock-umentary produced by PBS, the non-profit media

>> outlet owned by about 350 public television stations. Although PBS styles

>> itself as " a trusted community resource that enriches the lives of all

>> Americans through quality programs that inform and inspire, " the only

>> information delivered during what was pretty much an hour-long bitch

>> slapping of the meat industry was about as intellectually profound as

>those

>> alphabet jingles on Sesame Street.

>>

>> At least kids figure out somewhere around age five that show is just make

>> believe.

>>

>> The producers of Modern Meat, on the other hand, couldn't crow enough

>about

>> their show's " credibility, " its " objectivity, " noting that the segment

>> featured interviews with " current and former USDA officials, meat

>> inspectors, food-safety experts and industry representatives. "

>>

>> Yeah, sure. And if you fall for that, you probably also believe you got a

>> great deal when you forked over a hundred bucks during one of the local

>PBS

>> station's endless fundraisers, just so you could obtain your very own

>> videotape of John Tesh's " Live at Red Rocks " concert, available

>exclusively

>> to supporters of PBS.

>>

>> Now wait just a minute, a lot of Tesh fans are thinking right now. PBS is

>> " public " television. They're not in bed with some corporate sponsor.

>They're

>> impartial.

>>

>> So how is it I can claim that the show's producers not only started with a

>> biased take on the industry but then pursued their own " agenda " throughout

>> production? How is it I can maintain that they ignored credible testimony,

>> scientific data and expert opinions that were contrary to their

>preordained

>> premise? That their " investigation " started with the idea that meatpackers

>> are deliberately poisoning the public with a vile, contaminated product,

>all

>> the while sneering at their victims as they drag huge sacks of cash into a

>> secret lair at the intersection of Easy Street and Fat Cat Boulevard?

>>

>> Because I've spent two decades covering the business? Because I've been

>> inside of several dozens of plants of all sizes and structures? Because

>all

>> by myself I have at least 10 times the knowledge base about the meat

>> industry that the entire Frontline staff could muster on a collective

>basis?

>>

>> Good answer. But incorrect.

>>

>> No, the reason I knew going in that Modern Meat would be an old-fashioned

>> trashing was because back in October 2001 the producers contacted me,

>saying

>> I was one of the " experts " they wanted to interview. They said they wanted

>> to develop a " thorough understanding " of both the history and the recent

>> developments in the industry.

>>

>> I told Alexis Bloom, a Frontline producer (her boss Doug Hamilton actually

>> produced the segment) I'd be happy to meet with her and Hamilton, even if

>I

>> had to fly out to their offices in San Francisco.

>>

>> She said that would be great, adding that, " We don't know what shape the

>> show will take. These things are often decided quite late, once the

>> interviews are shot and the footage is cut in the editing room. But while

>> we're setting that up, could you get us into a few meat plants, and maybe

>> get an interview with Bob Peterson [then the chairman of IBP inc.]? "

>>

>> I replied, " Uh, no. I wouldn't be in a position to ask anyone for access.

>> Sorry. But let me know when you'd like to talk. "

>>

>> Weeks went by. I didn't hear anything further. After contacting Bloom

>again,

>> she e-mailed me back. Here is her verbatim reply:

>>

>> " I've just spoken to my producer [Hamilton]. He's off on the road again

>and

>> doesn't know what his exact schedule will be over the next few months. And

>> he's not sure that a face-to-face meeting would be all that valuable for

>> both parties. I hope you understand our position. "

>>

>> I replied: " Yes, let me see if I 'understand' your position. If I'm

>willing

>> to donate my time on the phone during my working hours at your

>convenience,

>> then you'll milk me for whatever you think you can use, right?

>>

>> " But when I propose that we sit down to discuss the meat industry, so I

>can

>> be assured you'll hear me out on topics I'd like to see presented from a

>> neutral angle, then suddenly your producer is 'busy' for the next three

>> months straight? That pretty much sum it up? "

>>

>> It didn't stop there.

>>

>> Contrary to the " wide-ranging examination " of the meat industry I was

>> initially told Frontline would pursue, Hamilton and his colleague Steve

>> Johnson zeroed in on the topic of E. coli O157:H7 contamination in ground

>> beef. They lined up sources later featured on the show who were all too

>> ready to spin the party line about " industrial feedlots " and " assembly

>line

>> plants " and an impotent USDA inspection corps.

>>

>> " When [fecal] bacteria are spread around huge feedlots, it contributes to

>> the spread of E. coli, " said Glen Morris, a University of Maryland

>> microbiologist and a former USDA official.

>>

>> " The new highly industrialized way we produce meat has opened up new

>> ecological niches for a number of bacteria, " added Dr. Robert Tauxe, head

>of

>> the Centers for Disease Control's Foodborne Illness Section.

>>

>> The experts pounded home the notion that these deadly new bacteria are

>being

>> spread throughout cattle herds, and that the Hazard Analysis and Critical

>> Control Point programs USDA began to implement after the 1993 food-borne

>> outbreak from E. coli O157:H7-tainted, undercooked Jack in the Box

>> hamburgers were resisted by the industry.

>>

>> Which also resisted microbial testing for E. coli and salmonella, the show

>> further alleged, citing the saga of Supreme Beef, the company that sued

>USDA

>> so it could (allegedly) continue to ship out salmonella-loaded ground beef

>> after failing the government's testing standards.

>>

>> Did they bother to talk to Steve Spiritas, Supreme's president? Maybe go

>for

>> that " balanced point of view " I remember getting mentioned a couple

>thousand

>> times in journalism school?

>>

>> Of course not. After the show was wrapped and ready to run without a peep

>> from the principal actor in the salmonella performance standards story,

>> Hamilton and Johnson told the National Meat Association they tried to

>> interview Spiritas but " couldn't locate him in the Dallas phone book. "

>>

>> H-m-m. But packers are supposed to locate every single blessed bacteria in

>> the truckloads of meat they process daily, now aren't they?

>>

>> The rest of the show touched on the usual list of charges: Cattle are

>> force-fed a fat-rich diet, pumped full of antibiotics and hormones, then

>> jammed into filthy feedlots and packing plants where cross contamination

>is

>> virtually de rigueur. Hundreds of millions of pounds of ground beef have

>> been recalled after being contaminated with deadly pathogens. But the

>poor,

>> hamstrung inspectors and their white knight bosses at USDA could solve the

>> whole situation, if only they had the muscle to order mandatory recalls

>> whenever a lab test came back positive for harmful microbes.

>>

>> Of course, anyone with a month's worth of experience in the business and

>> half a conscience knows the real story:

>>

>> Microbial pathogens are present sporadically in all raw foods and are

>> impossible to totally eliminate, any more than mosquitoes or cockroaches

>> could be wiped out.

>>

>> Industry embraced -- not defied -- HACCP. The only resistance came when

>USDA

>> layered HACCP on top of command-and-control.

>>

>> Testing solves nothing and can only be used for verification of

>> anti-microbial interventions, on which industry has invested billions.

>>

>> Salmonella performance standards were twice declared illegal by federal

>> judges because they were wrongly being used to measure sanitation

>> effectiveness.

>>

>> " Modern " meat production has progressed light years from what was

>acceptable

>> only a few years ago. But meat or food processors can no more solve all

>> food-borne illnesses than car makers can prevent all traffic accidents.

>> That's reality. But when viewers soak up shows such as Frontline's full

>> facial on the meat industry, one can only hope they reminded themselves

>that

>> what they see on TV isn't always accurate.

>>

>> The PBS producers tried to communicate a real fear about the crud they

>claim

>> is contaminating cattle in the nation's feedlots.

>>

>> What they should have been worried about is the crap they're broadcasting.

>>

>>

>> To send an email to -

>>

>>

[Guest guest]

-

<EBbrewpunx

 

Tuesday, April 23, 2002 7:57 AM

my, am i still off topic...RE: Re: a meating place critiques frontline's "modern meat"

 

> listen here goi-yum...> > come on...i spent a portion of my lil fraggle existence in connecticut and nyc...

 

LOL. Okay, okay. You looked pretty gentile to me, that's all

> > and, no, never heard that NOFX song...last album i bought by them was "longest line"..last time i saw them, they threatened to beat me up because i wrote a not shining review about them..hahahaha

 

Why? I think they are funny as hell. I only know a few songs, though. Hot Dog in a Hallway is a classic. Very not nice, though.

> > (granted, this was like 1990...)> > poor fraggle...born in SoCal..spent his winters in the Northeast, summers in SoCal..boi, was he messed up>

 

Was this a split custody thing? Did you fly by yourself?--jojo