USDA Orders Largest Meat Recall in U.S. History
By David Brown Washington Post Staff WriterUSDA Orders Largest Meat Recall in U.S. History
Monday, February 18, 2008; Page A01
The Agriculture Department has ordered the largest meat recall in its history -- 143 million pounds of beef, a California meatpacker's entire production for the past two years -- because the company did not prevent ailing animals from entering the U.S. food supply, officials said yesterday.
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Read on here.
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When I first became vegan, I frequented the PETA.org website and joined petitions to prevent various organizations and businesses from abusing animals. (PetSmart, Tyson Foods, etc).
So when I read this article few weeks ago in the newspaper, I screamed inside, YES YES YES! Well, reading the article, I realized that the government officials are not too woried about the abuse itself ("most of it is eaten a long time ago" and wouldn't pose any more risk????) but still I think it'll still send an important message to meat packing factories.
Some people DO become vegan for not ethical or religious reasons but for health reasons. Growing up, I was convinced that USDA as an organization makes sure that what we eat, especially meat, is safe and clean. Literatures and researches proved me wrong.
While I still actively participate in petitions and online activities, I don't usually talk about my veganism with people I know or recommend vegetarian diet to people because I don't want to sound "holier than thou" as I used to feel around ethical vegetarians before. If I'm going to talk about it, I might as well sound logical and reasonable, and simply exclaiming, "how can you eat ANIMAL?!?!" does not really do that.
But I hope the USDA Recall and many other stories you hear in the news regarding toxins found in meat and fish, would raise social awareness of health benefits of the vegetarian diet.