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Slaughterhouse president acknowledges illegal slaughter of ill cowsWASHINGTON (AP)--The president of the slaughterhouse at the center of the largest beef recall in U.S. history acknowledged March 12 that cows too sick to stand apparently were forced into the food supply at his plant. Federal rules mostly ban such cows, known as downer cattle, because they pose a higher risk of causing infections, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The admission from Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.'s Steve Mendell came after a House subcommittee made him watch undercover video of abuses of cattle at the California plant. With his head in hand at times, Mendell saw the tape show cows dragged by chains, jabbed by forklifts and shocked--methods to get them into position to be slaughtered. After the screening, Mendell briefly bowed his head. Then he backed away from claims in his earlier written testimony that no ill cows at the plant entered the food supply. The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce's investigations subcommittee, Rep. Bart Stupak, asked Mendell whether it was logical to conclude from the videos that at least two downer cows entered the food supply. "That would be logical, yes sir," Mendell said. "Has your company ever illegally slaughtered, processed, or sold a downer cow?" asked Stupak, a Democrat. "I didn't think we had sir," Mendell said. Reminding him that he was appearing under oath, lawmakers asked Mendell why he claimed in the written testimony that the abused cows were headed to be euthanized and not for the food supply. "I had not seen what I saw here today," said Mendell. He said the U.S. Department of Agriculture had refused to allow him to see some of the undercover video shot by the Humane Society of the United States. Stupak pointed out that the video has been posted on the group's website. After Mendell's testimony, his lawyer sought to clarify what Mendell's remarks. Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican congressman, said Mendell would not dispute logical conclusions drawn by Stupak about downed cattle illegally entering the food supply. "But it can't be conclusive because he does not know all the facts of it, he hasn't studied it and he only saw one brief shot at it during his testimony," Hutchinson said. The public appearance was Mendell's first since the video led to his plant's shutdown and last month's recall of 143 million pounds (65 million kilograms) of beef. Mendell appeared under subpoena. Mendell noted that no illnesses have been reported from the recalled beef and the USDA has found no evidence of problems with it. Some 50 million pounds (23 million ) of the beef went to federal nutrition programs, mostly school lunches. Mendell said he has received death threats. He contended his company has a long record of good safety procedures and was in the process of taking extensive corrective actions in response to the video when the department shut him down and called for a recall of product produced over the past two years. "Our company is ruined. We cannot continue," Mendell said. Some 220 employees have lost or are about to lose their jobs, he said. 3/24/08 Date: 3/19/08 Advertisement
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