Comments on: The jungle, updated

By: freefall

freefall — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:13:26 +0000

Head of U.S.D.A. Dr. Kenneth Peterson says, “I have to look at the whole industry not just what is best for public health”. Would anybody argue that what is best for public health is best for industry? Seems as though the new American business model of running your company into the ground and deploying your golden parachute is spreading throughout all industries and agencies of government that protect those industries. And here I always thought that the U.S.D.A. was a taxpayer funded agency whose specific purpose was to do what was “best for public health”. Time to give the doctor the boot and put like minded industry shills on notice.

By: Modaca

Modaca — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:10:57 +0000

Grinding your own hamburger is an option. An easier one is do NOT buy hamburger packaged by a third party like Tyson or Cargill. Buy the stuff your market grinds there or in its direct suppliers. That’s what the earlier articles like this current one suggested.

By: Jay C

Jay C — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:12:45 +0000

As vegetarianism isn’t really an attractive option to me, my first thought after reading the NYT piece was to run out, buy a meat grinder, and vow NEVER to eat cheap, mass-produced hamburger ever again.

Unfortunately, a lot of the problem, as I interpreted it, is not so much a matter of practice (these packing companies DO have safety procedures in place- a lot of them) as it is just the odds of volume: one of the packer/grinders mentioned in the article was cited as processing one million pounds (500 TONS) of meat A DAY – and there’s just no way anybody is going to deal with that amount of organic material (like meat) and not run the odds of SOME contamination up to unacceptable levels.

By: Page Your Office, Upton Sinclair « Around The Sphere

Page Your Office, Upton Sinclair « Around The Sphere — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:34:03 +0000

[...] Mark Kleiman: [...]

By: paul

paul — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:28:23 +0000

SamChevre:

Right in your comment you explain why “could burden the small processor” is a specious explanation. The USDA has never evaluated regulations based on their burden to small producers; if they did, lots of dairy/cheese rules would be enormously different. (As one of our local cheesemakers explained it: “If we were as dirty as the USDA allows, we couldn’t make cheese in the first place.”) There are plenty of ways to carve out (um) variations and exemptions for smaller producers, but letting the million-pound gorillas completely off the hook is not among them.

By: Dennis Clason

Dennis Clason — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:09:21 +0000

Well. We happen to own a stand mixer and have the meat grinder that attaches to it.

We’ve purchased my last hamburger. From here on out, we buy whatever’s reasonably priced (chuck, etc.) and grind our own.

That does sweet FA for the public health issue, but it solves our issues.

As Sam notes, small processors do get hosed in this deal. One of our producers of organic free range turkeys (and they grow heritage breeds, not the mutants produced for Butterball etc.) was shut down by USDA earlier this year. One of the problems: they’re rural and on a septic system. USDA wants certification that the septic system is okay, which requires digging it up and inspecting it. Cost: $10K or so. That’s a problem when your annual production is under 2000 birds.

By: SamChevre

SamChevre — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:06:28 +0000

I’d just note that the “could unfairly burden small processors” is not a trivial concern. USDA regs have really hurt the small farm milk and meat industry, basically because they don’t distinguish between Tyson and Bev Eggleston. If you are Tyson, and a “batch” is a ton, test every batch works well. If you are butchering on a small scale, and a batch is 25-50 pounds, test every batch gets prohibitively expensive.

By: paul

paul — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:18:09 +0000

Hmm. I wonder also which retailers are vulnerable to a little informational picketing.

By: JO'N

JO'N — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:07:11 +0000

Irradiation? You’re think that the presence of cow feces in food should be solved by nuking the food so the cow feces don’t make us sick? Call me a commie, but perhaps it’s better not to sell cow feces as food in the first place.

By: Mark Kleiman: The Jungle, Part II | My Pure Diet. Health News & Supplements.

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:04:33 +0000

[...] acts of God. They’re the products of corporate and governmental decision-making. Time for some righteous anger from the President. [...]

By: Mark Kleiman: The Jungle, Part II – 167th Edition | Trends Unltd

Mark Kleiman: The Jungle, Part II – 167th Edition | Trends Unltd — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:29:55 +0000

[...] E. coli outbreaks in ground beef aren’t acts of God. They’re the products of corporate and governmental decision-making. Time for some righteous anger from the President. [...]

By: Rev. Run

Rev. Run — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:07:56 +0000

Couldn’t this whole problem be solved by mandating irradiation? Although that would likely anger a whole different group of constituencies..

By: Warren Terra

Warren Terra — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:22:36 +0000

A couple of years ago, a producer wanted to run extra tests (so it could export its meat more easily to Japan iirc); its competitors didn’t want anyone testing, so the USDA prevented the tests.

By: Michael O'Hare

Michael O'Hare — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:06:53 +0000

Mark, you’ve fallen into the treasonous grip of unAmerican forces dedicated to sabotaging our immune systems by denying us access to the bugs who keep them fit. Carbon dioxide is good for plants too; without coal and oil burning, there’s be no lettuce for that salutary hamburger.

By: JMG

JMG — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:16:03 +0000

http://lovesalem.blogspot.com/2009/10/word-bill-maher-nails-it.html

“Update: The always-excellent “Reality Based Community” has a modest recommendation for the USDA: For Christ’s sake, do your goddamn job for once instead of sucking up to Big Meat, you gutless sacks of offal (paraphrasing a little).”

By: Bernard Yomtov

Bernard Yomtov — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:12:44 +0000

You really should talk to the libertarians before posting stuff like this, Mark.

They will carefully explain that firms won’t sell tainted meat because it would hurt their reputations, and that would be bad for business. So all this regulation and inspection stuff is utterly unnecessary and wasteful. The market solves all.

By: DaveH

DaveH — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:51:46 +0000

He won’t do it.

By: paulo

paulo — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:40:45 +0000

Shorter USDA: We must preserve our uniquely American system and allow corporations in the (INDUSTRY NAME HERE) industry to kill their customers.

Where have I heard that before ? Oh yeah here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/story?id=7920012&page=1

By: Mark Kleiman: The Jungle, Part II « Daily News

Mark Kleiman: The Jungle, Part II « Daily News — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:30:52 +0000

[...] E. coli outbreaks in ground beef aren’t acts of God. They’re the products of corporate and governmental decision-making. Time for some righteous anger from the President. [...]