The Largest Beef Recall In US History Led To Criminal Convictions

From Chinese takeout-style honey garlic crispy beef to steak, the US is large on beef. Based on Statista, in 2021 alone, Individuals consumed a whopping 30 billion kilos of beef. The general public buy the overwhelming majority of their beef on the grocery retailer and, because of an array of checks and ensures, belief that what they’re shopping for is secure. Nevertheless, the biggest beef recall in U.S. historical past not solely broke this belief however led to felony convictions for these accountable.

In 2008, the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co., which was based mostly in Chino, California, made headline information when the US Division of Agriculture deemed that 143 million kilos of the corporate’s beef needed to be disposed of. (This large quantity is just barely lower than the total amount of frozen chicken products recalled by Perdue during 2024.) The mass recall was the results of the inhumane therapy animals skilled on the firm’s slaughterhouse. The corporate was uncovered by the Humane Society of the US which ran an undercover operation, acquiring video proof of what went on behind closed doorways. Upon the discharge of the footage, Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. needed to face the results.

The president of Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co., Steve Mendell, stood earlier than Congress to look at the footage in March 2008. In April that very same 12 months, the USDA notified the meat firm that it was accountable for a $67.2 million greenback portion of the recall price. What’s extra, two Hallmark/Westland workers, supervisor Daniel Agarte Navarro and slaughterhouse employee Luis Sanchez have been charged with animal cruelty offences. They each plead responsible. A $155.7 million judgment was additionally leveled towards the corporate for animal abuse.

Learn extra: 6 Canned Meats You Should Be Eating And 6 To Avoid

What Was On The Launched Video?

The Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. recall utilized to all meat from the slaughterhouse courting again to February 2006. The size of the recall interval, and the truth that the corporate was part of the Nationwide Faculty Lunch Program, meant that a lot of the meat concerned within the recall had already been consumed. Roughly 37 million kilos of it had been despatched to varsities, suggesting that school lunches aren’t that much better than they used to be.

The video launched by the Humane Society of the US was taken in 2007 and confirmed Hallmark/Westland staff utilizing disturbing strategies to get cows to stroll after they did not have the power to. They hit the downed animals, sprayed them with water utilizing a hose, and pushed them utilizing a forklift. Other than revealing this cruelty, the video raised suspicions that the cows have been very unwell and thus ought to by no means have been in line to develop into meals. (Cows should be capable to stand and stroll with the intention to be thought of secure for consumption.) This was the principle motive why a lot beef was recalled after the Humane Society’s video was launched.

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