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Its all over the news. The largest recall of beef in history has been ordered, 143 million pounds, by California meat producer, Westland/Hallmark Meat Company.

The video, taken by a worker at the cattle slaughterhouse, was released by the Humane Society, reveals cattle too sick to stand or walk (called “downers” by industry) being “kicked, beaten, dragged with chains, shocked with electric prods, sprayed in the face with hoses, and rammed by forklifts in efforts to get them to their feet to pass USDA inspection.” Basically, we’ve been eating beef that would not have otherwise passed USDA inspection, and that includes school children too, if you hadn’t yet lost your appetite.

The meat of this story actually has nothing to do with the recall. The Times quoted Dr. Richard Raymond, the Agriculture Department’s under secretary for food safety, saying “the great majority has probably been consumed,” and I’m betting that less than 1% of the meat will actually be disposed of. This story is about YouTube transparency. Whether we like or not, consumers now have more access to the vivid footage and raw information that will continue to put into question the moral and social implications of our behavior, as individuals, society, and corporate America at large. While we may have been able to remain comfortably oblivious to the real story about how our meat actually got to be wrapped in cellophane and styrofoam yesterday, today we get to see the YouTube compliment to Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, and it makes one’s stomach turn.

This is just the beginning. If CEO John Mackey says that even the farms that supply the health (but not so much price) conscious shoppers of Whole Foods have “a long way to go,” the media explosion we’re watching right now is only an indication that the information gap between consumers and farmers is about to be closed, or at least significantly narrowed.

It comes down to transparency, not standards. Westland/Hallmark has replaced its entire website with a public statement made by its President, Steve Mendell. Clearly, farmers are a decade or two behind in their corporate communication strategies. The hugely disappointing aspect of the response isn’t its “safe” or somewhat defensive nature, arguably a cause for more consumer distrust, but its focus on food standards. This recall isn’t about FDA standards–apparently, those can be manipulated–it is about the complete lack of transparency and information that has led us to eat food that we likely would not have otherwise.

CEO Mendell’s letter on Westland/Hallmark’s website:

WESTLAND/HALLMARK MEAT CO.

February 3, 2008

As President of Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. I want to reassure our customers and consumers that our company has met the highest standards for harvesting and processing meat under the Federal Meat Inspection Act. A fulltime USDA veterinary medical officer has been assigned to our facility for many years, and he oversees the work of three inspectors in the harvest operation and another inspector assigned to the processing operations. In addition, we have had a full time official from the USDA’s Grading Service in our operation for the purpose of ensuring contractual compliance for the meat we sell to the USDA commodity program.

During 2007, we had 17 third party audits of our operation to confirm that we meet the statutorily mandated humane handling and food safety standards. In addition we have conducted 12 internal audits by our own personnel to ensure that such standards are met. We also, conduct weekly humane handling audits based on standards set forth in the American Meat Institute’s (AMI), Recommended Animal Handling Guidelines and Audit Guide 2007 Edition, which was authored by Dr. Temple Grandin, a world renowned expert of humane handling practices. Complete documentation of this activity has been made available to the USDA investigation team currently at our plant.

Words cannot accurately express how shocked and horrified I was at the depictions contained on the video that was taken by an individual who worked at our facility from October 3 thru November 14, 2007. We have taken swift action regarding the two employees identified on the video and have already implemented aggressive measures to ensure all employees follow our humane handling policies and procedures. We are also cooperating with the USDA investigators on the allegations of inhumane handling treatment which is a serious breech of our company’s policies and training.

As part of our own investigation, we have retained an outside consultant to take an independent look at our operations. He is a veterinarian who worked for FSIS in a supervisory position for 26 years all over the U.S. He spent two days in our facility with full and free access to all documentation and plant personnel. He told us in a written report that our records and programs are “the best he has ever seen in any plant.” We have provided his report to the USDA.

We have voluntarily suspended our operations pending the completion of the USDA investigation. We are dedicating our full efforts and resources to fully cooperate with the USDA investigative team that has been assigned to our plant.

Finally, I proudly assure our customers that we comply with all USDA requirements, including the requirement that only ambulatory livestock may enter the harvest facility to be processed for human food. I am confident that we have met this high regulatory standard.

Steve Mendell

President

Westland Meat Co.

Hallmark Meat Packing

Welcome to the future of corporate social responsibility (CSR). It’s changing the way we live, work, and now… eat.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Worldchanging biz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.