Food Logistics

The safety of the food supply chain came under scrutiny last week when Westland Meat, a Chino, CA-based meatpacker, recalled 143 million pounds of beef — the largest meat recall in U.S. history.

The beef dates back to cattle slaughtered two years ago. The product was recalled because of a videotape released last month showing workers at Westland’s partner, Hallmark Meat Packing, trying to force “downed” cows to stand with electric shocks and fork lifts. “Downed” cows are either injured or too sick to stand. These poor creatures are at risk for contamination and can possibly carry mad-cow disease.

This wasn’t good news for dozens of retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. They had to pull product from their shelves from suppliers that got their beef from Hallmark/Westland Meat. Burger King also had to destroy patties that came from the meat packer as well. But some 37 million pounds of the product went to school lunch programs in 36 states — and has likely already been consumed, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA said that the recall was precautionary and classified it as a Class II recall, meaning there is little likelihood of illness. However, this recall will once again shake consumer confidence in food safety and could potentially cost retailers and foodservice operators millions of dollars.

The recall has gotten the attention from officials in Washington, who are enraged that potentially tainted beef was sent to school lunch programs. According to USA Today, U.S. Rep. George Miller [D-CA], chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said that the recall “raises alarming question about the USDA’s ability to monitor the safety of meat that is being shipped to our nation’s schools.”

With members of the Congress calling for action, you would think food safety is sure to become a hot topic in this year’s presidential election. For years, Sen. Hillary Clinton [D-NY] has been calling for tougher regulations, wanting to create a single food-safety agency. Last week, she outlined her plan for reform if she were elected president:

* Immediately conduct a thorough audit of the nation’’ food safety systems to locate weaknesses and gaps. The current recall raises a number of questions, including how USDA failed to detect violations at the Hallmark/Westland plant and what steps USDA will take to ensure that all of the meat is removed from grocery stores and school cafeterias. Clinton will seek a report with recommendations on immediate and long-term reforms.

* Increase USDA food safety funding by more than 50 percent so that inspectors have the resources and staffing they need to do their jobs. This year, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service will have a budget of $930 million. Much of that money goes to fund 7,800 inspectors responsible for inspecting 6,200 slaughterhouses and food processors across the nation. Clinton wants to increase that budget to $1.5 billion and to bolster the inspection force.

* Move toward a single Food Safety Administration responsible for all food products, with strong authorities to protect consumers. Clinton will work to centralize the nation’s food safety efforts in one agency, so that multiple bodies are not policing imports and setting separate standards. Right now, 15 agencies administer more than 30 laws related to food safety. The result is overlap, gaps and waste.

* Give safety agencies mandatory recall authority and direct them to create a national tracing system to determine the origin of tainted food. Clinton will authorize the FDA and USDA to mandate recalls of tainted products. Right now, the FDA and USDA lack mandatory recall authority. The new food safety agency would establish an integrated national traceback system to help regulators trace food products and ingredients from their point of sale back to their origin.

* Find, prosecute, and punish food production facilities that abuse animals and allow unsafe food to enter our food supply.

* Ban the slaughter of downed animals.

Senator Barack Obama [D-IL] also released a statement, saying “When I am President, it will not be business as usual when it comes to food safety. I will provide additional resources to hire more federal food inspectors. I will also call on the Department of Agriculture to examine whether federal food safety laws need to be strengthened, in particular to provide greater protections against tainted food being used in the National School Lunch Program.”

As far as I can tell, the Republican presidential primary nominees have not issued any statements regarding the recall or food safety at this time. I will have to tune in to the next debate to see how they plan on addressing the issue.

In light of last weeks, recall, I am surprised that Clinton is the only candidate that is addressing this issue. The others are aware of the impact that recalls have on the entire food industry. Everybody agrees that the industry must address this complex issue, but how do we go about it?

What do you think should be done about food safety? Is Clinton’s vision of a single food-safety agency a good idea? What would it take for that to happen? Let us know your thoughts.