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The cycle of life"There is no such thing as bad PR." That is a statement that I have learned to live by for the past seven years in public life, yet the events of the past two weeks must make one wonder where the silver lining will be in this storm. The challenges continue to mount as the animal rights organizations that want to eliminate our dietary choices pick up steam. The fact that the kid in the grocery store doesn't know where his milk comes from isn't even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the disconnect leading to anxiety about how animals are treated in our nation's meat production facilities. I think most of you are shocked by the reaction to the video footage that has surfaced in the past couple of weeks. One point, generated by the Center for Consumer Freedom which most Americans haven't thought about, is that there is evidence that undercover investigations by animal rights groups have been taking place in packing plants since the first bovine spongiform encephalopathy-positive case in 2003. It's absolutely likely and also probable that it took five years and who knows how many spies to finally find this damaging video footage. Let's put all of that aside for now. I believe the reason we see continued "news" about this particular issue is that most Americans have just now realized or considered the fact that an animal dies to make their hamburger. I truly believe it is a thought that most well-fed Americans have never had before now. We have allowed the whole incident of abuse of animals to be blurred into an issue of food safety. News outlets from coast to coast are lined up in an attempt to create incredible doubt about the safety of our food supply but the following incident takes the cake. One editor writes that we must ask seven questions about our food. Of course, this list includes the typical rhetoric about factory farms versus family farms, the abuse of antibiotics in modern food production and the use of hormones in efficient food production. But it was number 5 that truly caught my attention: 5. "Tell your family dog how these animals are treated on factory farms and in meat production facilities. Watch how your dog responds when you share the stories of abuse." Now, you may wonder why I even give time or space to such ignorance? But I do so because this is the very person who doesn't understand that an animal dies to provide for another. This is the very person who doesn't know her dog would be outside killing rabbits if it weren't inside being treated like a kid. This is the same person who doesn't know that a dog does not follow any Humane Slaughter Act procedures and, in fact, will most likely start eating the rabbit while the rabbit is still crying out in pain. And most unfortunately is the fact that this person is no longer one person but a growing percentage of the people in our country. With that said, we as humans are, in general, smarter than dogs. We have established proper standards for the respectful harvest of animals in our nation's meat packing plants. We do not allow non-ambulatory cattle to be put in the food chain. In an abundance of caution to minimize human health impact, we also remove specified risk materials from ALL beef animals. To date, our national BSE surveillance program has tested nearly 800,000 cattle with only two positive animals. By the way, these are mostly cattle with evidence of neurological problems, which are of the highest risk in the population to potentially have BSE. The full story coming from the U.S. Department of Agriculture investigation at the Hallmark cow plant in Chino, Calif., is not getting its fair share of print. The USDA has recalled millions of pounds of beef dating back to February 2006, not because of the few cows we saw being abused in the video but because of violations in other protocols. In fact, there is no evidence to suggest that the abused cows entered the food chain. Since February of 2006, a few properly inspected cows per month have walked into that plant, only to go down after initial inspection. The USDA regulation states that if this happens the plant may request an additional USDA inspection to determine if it was an acute injury or a disease that caused the non-ambulatory condition. On average, this occurred with one or two cows per month in this plant and the cows were not properly labeled as "suspect." That infraction is what caused the beef recall and not the videotaped abuse to animals outside of the plant. As a result, a Class 2 recall was issued, which means that there is a remote possibility but rare chance of human health being impacted. Dr. Richard Raymond, undersecretary for Office of Food Safety with USDA, told me this but no one seems to be talking about it. This beef facility is a large plant and has been a substantial supplier to the school lunch program. Consequently, the plant has undergone extensive microbiological testing to meet the strict criteria of this program. This particular plant had over 500 individual tests for E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella in 2007 and had only one positive test for salmonella through the entire year. That is a tremendously significant point to remember, even though this giant recall will most likely put the operation out of business. Not one human health illness occurred because of the activities that occurred at this site. So the lesson to all of us in the food business is that we are only as strong as our weakest link. Animal abuse, whether it leads to food safety issues or not, will not be tolerated. In the meantime, we all need to accept the challenge of getting busy to explain to the America public that death with a purpose gives full meaning to life. It is called the cycle of life. If you don't have access to someone in agriculture who can explain it to you, I suggest you watch the Lion King again and learn about the importance of completing this circle! Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com. 3/3/08 Date: 2/28/08
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