Manning Beef, LLC - Where's The Beef?

by Dick Mac

There is another food recall.

The Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) of the United Stated Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a recall notice for the recall of bee tainted with E.coli.

One of the thing "conservatives" have promised us over the past three decades is that removal of burdensome regulation will lead to a healthier market, more and better-paying jobs, better products, higher profits, and satori. Well, OK, not the last bit about satori, but they have promised all the rest.

It took a little time for us to get this de-regulation thing going full-steam, but Bill Clinton and George W Bush did a remarkable amount of de-regulation in a very slick way: did not close any of the regulatory agencies, they followed Reagan's method and simply staffed them with the CEOs of the industries that are being regulated by those agencies. At the same time, Congress has slowly, but steadily, passed laws that take the teeth out of most agency rules enforcement.

E.coli is discussed at wikipedia.org:

E. coli and related bacteria constitute about 0.1% of gut flora, and fecal-oral transmission is the major route through which pathogenic strains of the bacterium cause disease. Cells are able to survive outside the body for a limited amount of time, which makes them ideal indicator organisms to test environmental samples for fecal contamination. The bacterium can also be grown easily and inexpensively in a laboratory setting, and has been intensively investigated for over 60 years. E. coli is the most widely studied prokaryotic model organism, and an important species in the fields of biotechnology and microbiology, where it has served as the host organism for the majority of work with recombinant DNA.
See, Escherichia coli

What this says, generally, is that E.coli is most commonly spread when poo gets in your food.

Food recalls are on the rise.

The USDA is not staffed to inspect the number of factories in its purview.

So, there is poo in your beef. And there will be more poo in your food as time goes on.

The current recall is from Manning Beef, LLC, of Pico Rivera, California. About 80,000 pounds of poo-beef has been distributed.

This is a Class I recall, the most serious type of recall, meaining there is a chance that eating the poo-beef will cause serious illness or death

The USDA defines it:

Class I Recall: This is a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.

WASHINGTON, Sep 30, 2011 - Manning Beef, LLC, a Pico Rivera, Calif. establishment, is voluntarily recalling approximately 80,000 pounds of beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The following products are subject to recall:

• Combo bins of BroPack Inc Beef Manufacturing Trimmings "65/35, 50/50 or 85/15" produced on Sept. 23, 2011.
• Combo bins of Paso Prime Beef Manufacturing Trimmings "65/35, 50/50 or 85/15" produced on Sept. 23, 2011.
• 30 and 60 lb. boxes of primal cuts, subprimal cuts and boxed beef produced on Sept. 23, 2011.

See more at: California Firm Recalls Beef Products Due To Possible E. Coli O157:H7 Contamination

Fortunately, at this time, nobody has been reported sick or dead from the tainted beef.

Jensen Farms - It's Melonicious

by Dick Mac

For thirty years we have been told that federal agencies are too intrusive, and that business and industry suffer from regulation.

Left to self-regulate, we are always told, industry will flourish, business will boom, employment opportunities will grow throughout the land, profits will soar, salaries will increase, and the streets of gold will run with milk and honey.

OK, maybe not the last bit about the milk and honey, but all the other things have been promised for thirty years as supply-side theory has been the guiding light of our economic system.

Ronald Reagan, the poster boy for supply-side economic theory, started the gutting process by appointing not scientists, analysts, professors, or researchers to head regulatory agencies, but CEOs who were being regulated by the agencies they now headed. If the supply-siders couldn't out-right shutter the regulatory agency, they would do the next best thing: hand control of the hen house to the foxes.

During the same time, we have slashed the budgets and staffing for most regulatory agencies, and now Congress is simply trying to take all power away from them so their mere existence is a meaningless waste of money.

One drawback to less effective regulation is the danger of poisons being introduced into the marketplace, for sale to consumers.

This past August, we learned that 36 million pounds of ground turkey was tainted with
salmonella. (See, Getting Out Of The Way Of Business

Now this week, we are being told that cantaloupes from Jensen Farm, in Colorado tainted with listeria. So far, it has caused at least 72 illnesses and 16 deaths in 18 states.

How does something like this happen in America in the 21st Century?

One way to facilitate it, and ensure it happens again in the future, is to limit funding for the Food & Drug Administration, reduce the Agency's staff, and put it under the control of a CEO form the food industry.

Conveniently, that is what we have done.

So, two months ago it was poisonous turkey, this month it's killer cantaloupes. What will it be for Christmas?

Listeria monocytogenes:

Listeriosis is a serious illness, and the disease may manifest as meningitis, or affect newborns due to its ability to penetrate the endothelial layer of the placenta. Vegetables can become contaminated from the soil, and animals can also be carriers. Listeria has been found in uncooked meats, uncooked vegetables, fruit such as cantaloupes, unpasteurized milk, foods made from unpasteurized milk, and processed foods. Pasteurization and sufficient cooking kill listeria; however, contamination may occur after cooking and before packaging. For example, meat-processing plants producing ready-to-eat foods, such as hot dogs and deli meats, must follow extensive sanitation policies and procedures to prevent listeria contamination.
See, Listeria monocytogenes, Wikipedia

A spokeswoman for Jensen Farms said the company's product is often sold and resold, so they do not always know where it ends up.

"If it's not Jensen Farms, it's OK to eat," said Thomas Frieden, director of the US Centres for Disease Control. "But if you can't confirm it's not Jensen Farms, then it's best to throw it out."

The recalled cantaloupes may be labelled "Colorado Grown," "Distributed by Frontera Produce," "Jensenfarms.com" or "Sweet Rocky Fords" but not every recalled cantaloupe is labelled with a sticker, the US Food and Drug Administration said. The company said it shipped out more than 300,000 cases of cantaloupes that contained five to 15 melons each, meaning the recall involved 1.5m to 4.5m pieces of fruit.
Listeria outbreak expected to cause more deaths across US in coming weeks

Our food supply is more unreliable every year that we live in the current economic and political climate; a climate that says government is bad and deregulation is our only hope for the future. As we continue down this path of folly, outbreaks like this will become more commonplace; and (like the spread of AIDS) nothing will be done until people of privilege start dying from it.

I ate some cantaloupe Tuesday night, and I am still alive. I will not have any more cantaloupe any time soon.

Getting Out Of The Way Of Business

by Dick Mac

One of the fundamental tenets of supply-side economic theory is that the government must be removed from the conduct of business.

All government intervention is detrimental to the development of the markets, and when the markets are left to their own devices, riches grow, manna falls from heaven, the sun shines, the grass grows, the forests become lush, the oceans thrive, the sky is clear and blue, poverty vanishes, everyone profits, the children are safe and happy, the streets flow with milk and honey, and it flows easily because said streets are paved in gold.

For the past thirty years, we have been systematically removing government from hindering business. Anyone who tells you that isn't true is either a liar or completely clueless. All of the Presidents since 1980 have helped de-fund regulatory agencies, including the IRS, and have appointed businessmen to head agencies previously headed by scientists, doctors and analysts.

We now have agencies that cost more than ever, are staffed at lower levels than ever, have had the teeth removed from their regulations, and are pretty much ineffective. This is the "conservative" way: cripple a service, then complain that it is ineffective, therefore it must be eliminated or privatized.

This is Reaganomics at its finest, and it is more alive this day than I think the Hunt family, Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, and Ronald Reagan himself ever thought possible.

Today's victory celebration for the supply-siders is taking place at the Cargill Meat Solutions processing plant in Arkansas. The table is set with the finest linens and silver, the creamer and sugar bowl are full, and the tea is steeping as we speak, because it is time for a little tea party!

Some of the ground turkey is bad. Salmonella has tainted it and a recall is taking place. Well . . . not just some ground turkey, but thirty-six million pounds of ground turkey.

Now, I don't know how long it takes to grind thirty-six million pounds of ground turkey, but I suspect it doesn't take place overnight.

At the Cargill website, they state that the facility in Springdale, Arkansas, processes two-hundred-fifty million turkey annually. According to news reports, the contamination fook place between February 20, 2011, and August 2, 2011 (that's about 160 days - give or take).

So, it appears that on a good day, with all the inspectors out of the way, and the staff working extra hours, perhaps a quarter-million pounds of turkey is ground.

It also appears that with all the inspectors out of the way and the staff working as hard as they can, that nobody is really paying attention to cleanliness; you know, like tracking bacteria that might kill somebody.

The reports of salmonella illness related to the ground turkey started March 1, 2011, and continued until the recall began August 1, 2011.

Now, using supply-side philosophy and tea party logic, if there was no government agency overseeing meat manufacturing, and there was no funding for the Centers for Disease Control, then the food industry would have plenty of resources to have discovered this problem and prevent something like this from happening.

If you really believe in Reaganomics, then you believe that Cargill itself would have found the salmonella and recalled the meat much faster than the five months it has taken. If only the evil United States government would get out of their way.

In the supply-side Utopia, there is no Food & Drug Administration, and no funding for the Centers for Disease Control. All industry inspection is handled by the industrialists themselves and all disease control is funded with the vast charitable contributions made by people like Donald Trump.

In reality, supply-side philosophy and the tea party movement benefit a very tiny number of people; likely a percentage so small that it can't be measured easily. Yet, millions and millions of Americans believe Ronald Reagan was a saint, did more for the middle-class than any President before him, and that the tea party movement is the only hope America has for its future.

If you want more poisoned meat, if you want less government oversight, if you want the industrialists to be the only people with a say in the development of American industry, then put on (or keep on) the blinders, vote Republican, and send a few dollars to the long-suffering billionaires who are trying to save the world with a tea party.

Investigation Announcement: Multistate Outbreak of Human Salmonella Heidelberg Infections, from the CDC site

Cargill recalls 36 million pounds of turkey in salmonella outbreak, from Quad City Times

Gargill recalling 36M pounds of ground turkey, from Bloomberg Businessweek

The Market Will Police Itself -- To Be Competetive

At least one U.S. child has died and 19 others have needed surgery since 2003 after swallowing magnets used in toys, the government said. Several injuries had been reported in an earlier Polly Pocket recall last November.

The mission of America's Republican Party is to completely decimate government so they are left to do whatever they want. The plan includes provisions for leaving a police force in place to enforce racist, punitive drug laws and a stilted court system to impose savage banking regulations and prevent bankruptcy protection for those who need it most. The plan was attempted under the Nixon administration when government privatization first began, but the Republicans of that era were such buffoons, so lacking in media savvy, that the plan never got off the ground. They did open China to profiteering, but not much else.

Nixon wasn't much of a poster boy.

Ronald Reagan was a perfect spokesman for avarice, and he played his part well. As an actor, he should have won an Oscar for his performance as President of the United States. He spread more lies and half-truths than any president before him, and he won the hearts and minds of the people he was screwing over: people who work for a living, those now called the 'working poor' (that is, the majority of Americans).

The premise of Reaganomics is that regulation of industry is bad, that all regulation is bad, that market forces police themselves, that supply and demand take care of all the ills facing society.

We were promised higher-quality products from more-profitable corporations employing more highly-paid Americans producing lower-cost items for now-wealthier citizens.

Anyone who has been awake for even a moment in the last twenty-five years has probably noticed that salaries have not kept-up with the cost of living, that quality has plummeted, well-paying jobs are scarcer, and the gap between rich and poor is greater than it has been since the abolition of slavery.

Next came the neo-conservative notion of free-trade agreements.

Somehow, otherwise smart, thinking Americans believed that sending our manufacturing jobs to developing nations would create more, and better jobs for Americans, and would keep brown-skinned foreigners on the other side of our borders.

In case you haven't noticed, the jobs that have moved out of the country have been replaced with lower-paying jobs and the influx of illegal aliens is at an all-time high.

Back to China.

Since the early 1970s, more and more American products are 'Made in China.' There are stories, allegedly unsubstantiated because they were reported by left-wing journalists not the Bancroft or Murdoch families, that entire farming communities in central China were flooded by the military so that crops were wiped-out. Then factories were built and the hungry farmers were then invited to accept slave-wages to provide the labor necessary to run the factories. Those who refused were generally imprisoned for sedition, or killed, and any attempt to return the agriculture was met with the full force of the Chinese military.

That's a pretty simple way to staff a factory.

What are these factories making? Nothing that anyone in China can afford.

They are making plastic this and thats, toys and umbrellas, and car parts and polo shirts. Toothpaste and anti-freeze, which now seem to be the same product in China. They make our junk. Our crap. Our throw-away stuff that costs a buck. Stuff that would cost three dollars if it was made int he USA.

How do they remain so profitable? Who knows. I don't pretend to know, but they must cut corners somewhere besides just labor. I mean, if you can make a fortune cutting corners on labor costs you can make two fortunes by also cutting corners on, say, paint.

So they cut corners on paint.

They buy paint that has large amounts of lead in it. Paint that is illegal in the United States.

That paint is delivered to the factory and the factory begins producing brightly-colored, I don't know, Barbie Dolls, let's say, or toy cars or action figures. Then that now-more-profitable stuff is shipped to your local toy store for kids to play with.

Some of it is shabbily made. Some of the pieces fall off. Like magnets. Or the paint chips off, just a little, and is ingested by a toddler. Just a little, though. And profits soar.

Then the companies, like Mattel, feign shock. They are appalled that their innocent looking doll could harm anyone. Meanwhile profits soar, Americans are without jobs and health-care, and the executives are living on paychecks three-hundred times that of their staff.

The Associated Press actually printed this paragraph:

Tuesday's recall was the latest blow to the toy industry, which has had a string of recalled products from China. With about 80 percent of toys sold worldwide made in China, toy sellers are worried shoppers will shy away from their products.

This implies that the media thinks American consumers are capable of making a decision to boycott (shhhhhh! not that word) a manufacturer, like Mattel, whose business practices are so reprehensible that no American can look to acknowledge how bad they are.

Can Americans stop buying Barbie dolls? I don't think so.

Even if they are poisoned, I don't think Americans are capable of refusing to buy something.

And our government certainly isn't going to put an end to any of this.

What are we to do?

Mattel recalling more Chinese-made toys

By NATASHA METZLER, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 14, 12:59 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Toy-making giant Mattel Inc. issued recalls Tuesday for about 9 million Chinese-made toys that contain magnets children can swallow or which could have lead paint.

The recall includes 7.3 million play sets, including Polly Pocket dolls and Batman action figures, and 253,000 die cast cars that contain lead paint.

Nancy A. Nord, acting Consumer Product Safety Commission chairman, told a news conference no injuries had been reported with any of the products involved in the new recall.

"The scope of these recalls is intentionally large to prevent any injuries from occurring," she told the news conference. Read more . . .

We have been promised by conservatives and neo-conservatives that market forces provide sufficient policing of industry. They continue to gut our government agencies and pass laws that allow greater corporate freedom, and things keep getting worse.

Mattel has proven it is unable to, or refuses to police itself.

Who will police them.

Nobody, I'm afraid.



Dick Mac Recommends:

A People's History of the United States
Howard Zinn