Court bars Meatpacker Tests for Mad Cow/Fast Food Scandals

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=942

EXCERPT:

Court bars Meatpacker Tests for Mad Cow
By Charles Abbott
Fri Aug 29, 2008
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Agriculture Department is within bounds to bar meatpackers from testing slaughter cattle for mad cow disease, a U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a 2-1 ruling on Friday.
Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC, a small Arkansas packer, filed suit on March 23, 2006, to gain access to mad-cow test kits. It said it wanted to test every animal at its plant to assure foreign buyers that the meat was safe to eat.
Three U.S. cases of mad cow disease, a fatal neurological infection, have been reported, the last in March 2006. People can contract a human version of the disease by eating infected meats. Most nations banned U.S. beef after the first case, in December 2003, but trade has been restored for the most part.
In a 25-page ruling, Appellate Judges Karen Henderson and Judith Rogers said USDA has authority under the 1913 Virus-Serum-Toxin Act to prevent sale of mad-cow test kits to meatpackers. USDA interprets the law to control products for “prevention, diagnosis, management or care of diseases of animals.”
David Sentelle, chief judge of the District of Columbia appeals circuit, dissented from the decision. He said USDA “exceeds the bounds of reasonableness” for a law enacted to prevent the sale of ineffective animal medicine.
USDA allows the mad-cow test kits to be sold only to laboratories that it approves. It says the tests should not be used as a marketing tool and the cattle that comprise the bulk of the meat supply are too young to be tested reliably.
Two large export markets, Japan and South Korea, accept beef only from younger U.S. cattle. Mad cow is found mostly in older cattle. Its incubation period is two to eight years.
Creekstone said it lost $200,000 a day due to reduced U.S. beef exports when it filed its lawsuit.
In its lawsuit, Creekstone argued the 1913 law could not be invoked to prevent use of products like “rapid test” kits for mad cow disease and the kits were not a “treatment” for livestock.
U.S. District Judge James Robinson had ruled in March 2007 that USDA could not control mad cow tests because they are not a treatment for animals.
The United States applies a number of safeguards against mad cow, formally named bovine spongiform encephalopathy. They include a ban on using cattle parts in feed and requirements for packers to remove at slaughter the materials most likely to carry the mad-cow agent — the brain, spinal column and nervous system tissue.
(Editing by Walter Bagley)
http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSN2928450820080829?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=10003
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 12:09 am and is filed under Medical Hazards, Miscellaneous, Privacy . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.



http://www.organicconsumers.org/irrad/codexfaq.cfm

November 22, 2000

FAQ About Codex Alimentarius
What is Codex Alimentarius?
Why is it important?
How is it different from WTO and other trade pacts and organizations?
Good background article from 1999

What is Codex Alimentarius?
Here is one definition: The Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) was established in 1962 by two United Nations organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Codex is the major international organization for encouraging fair international trade in food and protecting the health and economic interests of consumers. Through adoption of food standards, codes of practice, and other guidelines developed by its committees, and by promoting their adoption and implementation by governments, Codex [supposedly] seeks to ensure that the world's food supply is sound, wholesome, free from adulteration, and correctly labeled.

Here is another definition, from Codex itself: The Codex Alimentarius Commission implements the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Program, the purpose of which is to protect the health of consumers and to ensure fair practices in the food trade. The Codex Alimentarius (Latin, meaning Food Law or Code) is a collection of internationally adopted food standards presented in a uniform manner. It also includes provisions of an advisory nature in the form of codes of practice, guidelines and other recommended measures to assist in achieving the purposes of the Codex Alimentarius. The publication of the Codex Alimentarius is intended to guide and promote the elaboration and establishment of definitions and requirements for foods, to assist in their harmonization and, in doing so, to facilitate international trade.

To summarize, Codex is the vehicle for harmonizing international rules for trade in food. That means, Codex is responsible for making it easy for countries and companies to import and export food. Which means that it is by definition opposed to national and local restrictions, labeling, and preferences. If a country or state wants to label GE food or irradiated food, too bad. Companies headquartered in that country probably have already gotten themselves appointed to the national Codex committee, where they work to make trade easier for them, regardless of the effect on and wishes of local populations.

Codex decisions are made by the few, for the few. The public is not invited, and often non-governmental organizations are not permitted to observe.

Codex is headed by Tom Billy, Chief of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, the man in charge of deregulating the meat industry.

Why is it important?
Under the World Trade Organization rules, Codex decisions override national and local decisions. So if, for example, Codex decided that no dose limits are required for irradiated food, the USA would not be able to stop the importation of foods irradiated at doses higher than the doses approved by the FDA.

How is Codex different from WTO and other trade pacts and organizations?
In the US, the FDA sets standards, but Congress may decide that the products that meet those standards can't be sold to another country. Similarly, the Codex sets the standards, the World Trade Organization (like Congress) creates and implements policy. WTO was set up by GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. GATT is the international trade agreement that requires a "race to the bottom" on health, environmental and labor standards. WTO policy requires countries to compensate companies whose products are rejected. The US is paying hundreds of millions to a Canadian manufacturer of a carcinogenic fuel additive banned in California. The US is engaging in a trade war with Europe, which has rejected US beef because it has banned hormones. And so on. Codex has nothing to do with trade policy; it applies to the manufacture and labeling of products before they are traded.




A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
~Herm Albright~

"I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men."

Geometrically Ordered Divinity (G.O.D.)



http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/007/RipOff0007320.htm

Apache Junction, Arizona - Sergeant Robert 'Woody' Haywood is a well-know thug of the Apache Junction Police Department. In the course of investigating and reporting the Pizza Hut scandal and Betty Carter's family, it was Woody Haywood that threatened Rip-Off Report volunteers with a lawsuit for slander. He was very aggressive and appeared violent. We have him on tape threatening BADbusinessbureau.com.

We want it well-documented that we have had aggressive contact with this officer and we believe he is capable of murder. We also want to go on record as saying that we believe there will also be recrimination from either Haywood or some of his confederates for taking this position.

We also know that the parents of the late Ali Altug are trying to hold this officer and the Apache Junction Police Department liable for their son's death and we want them to know that we are solidly behind them.

There are a couple of other connections that we want to draw here, and hopefully this will be helpful to attorneys in the prosecution of this and other lawsuits. First, as we mentioned, we believe that there was a corrupt connection between the Carters and the Apache Junction Police Department.

There are several witnesses that have filed affidavits that Betty Carter claimed that a connection existed with them and that she was 'protected.' That was why it was requested that Apache Junction Police Department not investigate Pizza Hut drug charges.

One witness even noted that some of Betty's thugs would kill for her at no charge. It would be interesting to know whether or not this witness could identify any of these 'thugs' as Apache Junction Police Officers. Given what we know about Woody's hot head, we believe that he would be a cold-hearted sort that could take a life without much concern.

This brings us to yet another Rip-off Report concerning corruption in the Mesa Police Department. Commander Clore of the Mesa Police Department is a good friend of Sergeant Haywood and it is noted that Clore has been in trouble a number of times, but these incidents have been 'swept under the carpet.' We believe that things have a way of heating up when people so out-of-control get pinned in a corner. This sort eventually self-destruct, but unfortunately not before destroying many others along the way.

Just as a side note, in the 'murder' of Ali Altug, the statement of Ali's father has never varied. However, Woody Haywood's various statements, which were coached by attorney each time, have absolutely no resemblance to each other. Haywood also violated established police procedures for de-fuzing suicide attempts, ignoring his own rule of not entering the 'blood circle,' then claimed that Ali lunged at him with a knife. Ali's father called 911 and the tapes prove that his father was concerned that Ali might try to hurt himself. Haywood should have known what he was going into.

Additionally, according to Ali's father, it was less than 30 seconds between the time that Haywood arrived, burst through the gate, (a good distance from the front door), barged through the front door, found his way to the kitchen unescorted, and fired three rounds into the torso of the teenage youth. Also, according to Ali's father, at no time did Ali ever stop sawing at his own arm with the bread knife. There was no threat to Haywood. It should also be noted that the 911 tape corroborates the version Ali's father told authorities and refutes many points offered by Haywood. It is a good bet that Haywood is lying.

The trial is forthcoming, and we hope that justice will be done. However, it is doubtful. Ali's civil rights were violated 'under color of law.' We therefore stridently urge the FBI to investigate this matter. The Arizona DPS has already investigated, and counsel has requested the investigation be reopened. That decision is pending. We need the Feds in the East Valley to clean up local law enforcement.

Frank Torelli
badbusinessbureau.com
Investigative Reporter/Consumer Advocate

Frank@RipOffReport.com
badbusinessbureau.com

Don't let them get away with it.
Make sure they make the Rip-off Report!

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Make sure they make the Rip-off Report.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/002/ripoff0002994.htm
Report: Pizza Hut
Category: Pizza & Take Out
Pizza Hut Restaurant employee abuses, criminal activity, severe health code violations, police misconduct many victims *UPDATE Lawsuit filed
*Consumer Comment ..Best of Luck to the claimants in this case

Rebuttal Box
Respond to this report!
Are you an owner, employee or ex-employee with either negative or positive information about the company or individual, or can you provide "insider information" on this company?

Victim of this person/company?
Are you also a victim of the same company or individual? Want Justice? File a Rip-off Report, help other consumers to be educated and don´t let them get away with it!


Pizza Hut
Phone: 480-982-1155
Fax:

495 W. Apache Trail
Apache Junction, Arizona,
U.S.A.

Submitted: 8/21/2000 12:00:00 AM
Modified: 6/26/2008 7:32:52 AM

ED
Tempe, Arizona


Ripoff Report Verified Safe

UPDATE: 7-9-01
Click here to read one of the lawsuits that was just filed against Pizza Hut for the many victims that worked under Betty Carter

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Pizza Hut and Betty Carter

Click here to read all the other Rip-off Reports on Pizza Hut and Betty Carter

Apache Junction, Arizona - Pizza Hut sexual harassment,
severe health code violations, threats to employees lives,
including drug dealing and police corruption.



=========================

A 7 month investigation by the badbusinessbureau.com has revealed the following information on the Pizza Hut restaurant located at 495 W.Apache Trail, Apache Junction, Arizona.

http://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com/u-pilgrimspride.asp


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Home > Undercover Investigations > Pilgrim's Pride





Thousands of Chickens Tortured by KFC Supplier
Additional Materials
What the Investigator Saw
What the Experts Say
PETA’s Letter to KFC
PETA’s Letter to Pilgrim’s Pride
Complaint to the Prosecuting Attorney
Food Safety Complaint to the USDA
Industry Response
Select Media Coverage
In July 2004, PETA revealed the results of an investigation into a KFC-supplying slaughterhouse in Moorefield, West Virginia, where workers were caught on video stomping on chickens, kicking them, and violently slamming them against floors and walls. Workers also ripped the animals' beaks off, twisted their heads off, spat tobacco into their eyes and mouths, spray-painted their faces, and squeezed their bodies so hard that the birds expelled feces—all while the chickens were still alive. Dan Rather echoed the views of all kind people when he said on the CBS Evening News, “[T]here's no mistaking what [the video] depicts: cruelty to animals, chickens horribly mistreated before they're slaughtered for a fast-food chain.”
The video from the investigation was broadcast by television stations around the world as well as all three national evening news shows, Good Morning America, and all the cable news networks. Plus, more than a million people have watched the footage on PETA's Web site.
The world's leading animal welfare experts condemned the cruelty at this KFC supplier. Colorado State University professor of animal science, biomedical sciences, and philosophy, university distinguished professor, and university bioethicist Dr. Bernard Rollin writes, “I can unequivocally state that the behavior I saw exemplified in [this] videotape was totally unacceptable. … The tape showed evidence of a work force that apparently failed to recognize that chickens are living sentient beings capable of feeling pain and distress.” Dr. Temple Grandin, perhaps the industry's leading farmed-animal welfare expert, writes, “The behavior of the plant employees was atrocious,” and asserts that even though she has toured poultry facilities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, France, the Netherlands, and the U.K., the video showed “the WORST employee behavior I have ever seen in a poultry plant.” University of Guelph professor of applied ethology and university chair in animal welfare Dr. Ian Duncan writes, “This tape depicts scenes of the worst cruelty I have ever witnessed against chickens … and it is extremely hard to accept that this is occurring in the United States of America.”



Thousands of Chickens Tortured by KFC Supplier
Other viewing options

What You Can Do
The best thing you can do to help spare animals from such torture is to stop eating them and, thus, stop supporting the industry that allows such cruelty to occur. Order a free vegetarian starter kit, full of delicious recipes. We'll also include a free DVD.
This facility was a KFC “Supplier of the Year.” Learn more about PETA's campaign to reform KFC.
Even though more than 9 billion birds are killed each year by the meat and egg industries, these animals are not protected by a single federal animal welfare law. Legislation will be introduced soon to add chickens, turkeys, and ducks to the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Please ask your senators and representative to support this legislation once it's introduced. Click here for the contact information for your elected officials.












Japan scandal hits Mcdonald's

http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/mcdonalds3302.cfm


March 3, 2002 Independent on Sunday (London) by Leo Lewis

McDonald's has been caught up in the Japanese meat-packing scandal. The burger chain is one of the biggest clients of Starzen, which has now admitted a history of mixing cheap meats with more expen- sive ones, and selling the product at premium prices.
Experts in the Japanese food industry believe it is "highly likely" that McDonald's was the unwitting recipient of deceitfully labelled products, which is the latest stage in a scandal rife with lies, denials and health scares. Tokyo analysts now warn that the problem could worsen in the next few weeks as other food firms admit to persistent malpractice.
On its own, the Starzen scandal would be bad enough, but the meat-buying Japanese public is already at a fever pitch of fear and disgust with its government and the largest food producers. Just last month, Snow Brands Food caused outrage as it emerged that it had been labelling domestic product as Australian beef in an effort to gain government subsidies. Those subsidies were themselves a result of colossal political mismanagement of Japan's BSE crisis, when overnight consumers boycotted domestic beef en masse.
The beef scandal has now forced Snow Brand into liquidation, but its name had already plummeted in the public's mind. Earlier in 2001, its dairy division admitted responsibility for a food-poisoning outbreak that affected tens of thousands of people. After Starzen's forced admission last week, a credit rating cut by Moody's and the removal of its products from the shelves of Ja- pan's biggest supermarkets, Star- zen shares plunged to record lows.
The scandal has highlighted the global uncertainty that still hangs over beef products and that has prompted McDonald's, the world's largest seller of beef, to make big changes to its menus that favour other meats. Its interest in developing pork products has brought it together with Sygen, a small Oxfordshire biotech company which uses DNA technology in an effort to breed the "Perfect Pig". This would be an animal with immunity from certain diseases, and the ideal flavour when cooked.




Burger King/CIW Press Conference

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QEHyKxT9TE

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/002/ripoff0002994.htm

MAD COW DISEASE IN THE UNITED STATES: RESTAURANTS; Restaurateurs Take in News And Await Diners' Verdict
By MARIAN BURROS; REPORTING FOR THIS ARTICLE WAS CONTRIBUTED BY ERIC ASIMOV, FLORENCE FABRICANT, NORA KRUG AND MICHAEL SLACKMAN.
Published: December 26, 2003
The discovery of a cow infected with mad cow disease may have restaurateurs nervous, but it did not give Don Bennett of Pennsylvania even a moment's pause yesterday. After taking his seat at the T.G.I. Friday's restaurant in Times Square on Christmas Day he ordered a hamburger well-done, the way he always eats it.
''I don't live my life like that,'' Mr. Bennett said, explaining his lack of fear. ''Whatever happens, happens.''
His wife, Diane, had beef on her nachos and, like her husband, did not give it a second thought.
''Ah, what's the big deal,'' she said, adding, ''We live a mile from T.M.I. -- we can see the reactors,'' referring to the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.
Hoping for just such reactions, officials in the New York restaurant industry said they were stunned but not terrified by early laboratory tests showing the presence of mad cow disease in a single animal in Washington State.
Some chain restaurants have had safeguards in place to reduce the likelihood of using meat infected with the disease.
The prevailing attitude among restaurateurs, from upscale bistros in Greenwich Village to McDonald's, was wait and see. They agreed that it was too soon to say how diners would react as they absorbed the news amid other holiday concerns.
At Cafe Luxembourg, a bistro on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Joanne Freedman, a manager, said on Wednesday that she had not heard questions about it. ''To be honest, I didn't see a lot of burgers go by today, though,'' Ms. Freedman said.
Some Manhattan restaurants immediately adjusted their menus. At Asiate, a new restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel off Columbus Circle, braised beef cheeks are no longer on the pre-theater menu. The restaurant will decide next week what to do about the dish. (Many scientists consider brains, beef cheeks and neck bones high-risk.)
And bone-marrow mashed potatoes have vanished from the menu at Judson Grill. Its executive chef, Bill Telepan, said, ''I'll keep bone marrow off my menu until I find out what the situation is.''
Other restaurateurs awaited advice from the federal government and wondered whether this was an isolated incident. ''Let's see how widespread this is,'' said Jacqueline Lincy, who, with her husband, Jean-Claude, owns Pierre au Tunnel in the theater district. The restaurant, a New York mainstay, is one of the few that serves old-fashioned bistro specialties like tête de veau vinaigrette -- calf's head with vinaigrette and capers -- and Ms. Lincy does not plan to take it off the menu.
''People come to the restaurant expressly for it,'' she said. ''We trust our butcher. If he's not buying it, then I'm not buying it.''
At Babbo, in Greenwich Village, where the menu includes beef cheek ravioli, gnocchi with braised oxtail and calf's brains with lemon and sage, Mario Batali, the chef and a co-owner, said that until the government recommended changes he would stick with his menu. ''I'm going to follow their lead,'' Mr. Batali said. ''I'm not going to jump up and down and freak out right now.''
The Agriculture Department says all parts of U.S.D.A.-inspected beef are safe to eat. Dr. Daniel L. Engeljohn, who writes regulations and inspection procedures for the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the Agriculture Department, said, ''We still believe our preventative measures, put in place over a decade ago, provide a safe beef product for the American consumer.''
Consumers groups, critical of the government's advice, have suggested that people who are concerned about risk avoid cuts of beef sold on the bone, like chops or ribs, and that they choose boneless cuts of meat, or beef that is ground on site in the store. Robert Pence, the owner of Oppenheimer Prime Meats on the Upper West Side, said quite a few customers had asked him about his sources for his chopped beef.
''What I try to emphasize is that what I use is prime U.S.D.A. meats, that I don't use any fillers in my chopped meat, and I always use muscle meat in my chopped meat,'' Mr. Pence said. He talked one woman out of canceling her order for a Christmas rib roast.
The large steakhouses, like Morton's, said they had been assured by their suppliers that their beef was safe.
But at Cafe Luxembourg, the executive chef, Chris North, is concerned. ''The last thing any chef wants to do is get a customer sick,'' Mr. North said. ''We're going to be leaning heavily on fish until we know what's going on. And New Zealand venison is our Christmas special.''
Some restaurateurs see a silver lining in the cloud. Marc Sherry, an owner of Old Homestead, said he was ''confident that the demand for beef will continue as strongly as ever.'' And, Mr. Sherry added, ''this situation should drastically reduce the cost of beef in this country because there will not be any exported.''
Fred Austin, an owner of Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side, which sells 2,000 pounds of ground beef in the form of hot dogs and salamis each day, said he ''might see a slight dip in sales, but the American consumer has enough confidence in our beef industry that I don't think it will have much of an effect.'' Like Mr. Sherry, he said he was looking forward to a greater availability of beef tongue, which until now was mostly shipped to Japan. Japan and about a dozen other countries have banned imports of American beef.
Brains are a favorite dish in many cultures, and at Karam, a Lebanese restaurant in Brooklyn, 10 five-pound containers of brains are sold every day. Karim Hamada, who works in the restaurant, said that he was not aware of the mad cow incident but that he was not worried because, he said, ''it's in God's hands.''
Statements from several fast-food chains were confined to assuring customers that they had put safeguards in place some years ago, when mad cow disease surfaced in Europe. But several others, including Arby's, White Castle and Jack in the Box, were more detailed, reporting that the companies prohibit the use of so-called downer cattle, those that cannot walk, often because they are ill. The infected cow in Washington State was a downer.
Others specified that they did not allow beef produced by the Advanced Meat Recovery Systems, beef harvested from machinery that squeezes out the small bits of meat that cling to an animal's spinal column and other bones. This form of beef is considered the most hazardous because it often contains bits of the central nervous system tissue and nerves that exit the spinal cord, which can carry the infectious agents for mad cow.
Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Wendy's do not permit meat harvested from such machinery or downer cattle in their ground beef.
At Odeon, a bistro in TriBeCa, hamburgers and steaks were selling as well as ever on Wednesday. Jay Lippin, the executive chef, said, ''I had a hamburger myself today.''
Not everybody was feeling secure, though. Mr. Lippin said a customer who had eaten a hamburger on Tuesday night called the restaurant in a panic after watching a news report, demanding to know where the meat had come from. ''I guess it's typical of watching the news, people tend to overreact,'' Mr. Lippin said.