The Meat We Eat
The Hot Pocket tainted meat recall is just the latest that we have heard about tainted and diseased meat being sold to consumers. I guarantee you though it will not be the last. Although I was not so surprised when it happened, many wonder how it could have happened. What has been not been made extremely public is the fact that carcasses from around 28,000 diseased animals are sold to caterers and food processors every year. From that, the meat finds its way into schools, prisons, hospitals and the military, or is used in products such as pies and pastries. For example, meat from slaughtered cattle is sold with no warning to processors or consumers that it comes from a TB-infected herd. In other words, once it passes as being “fit for human consumption” it does not need to be marked, and can therefore be sold with all other meats without additional labeling. Just a week ago Rancho Feeding Corp. of Petaluma, CA recalled close to 9 million pounds of meat, because th...