SO IT'S official: Downers - cows too sick to stand, the ones at highest risk for mad cow disease - were indeed getting into the food supply and being fed to our nation's children in the school lunch program.
Steve Mendell, CEO of the meat plant made infamous by undercover Humane Society video footage, said so himself on Wednesday while testifying before Congress.
Hours before, Mendell had submitted written testimony saying the cows seen being tormented by his workers were euthanized and "not put into commerce." But a House subcommittee made him watch all the videos. "With his head in hand at times," the Associated Press reported, he watched "cows dragged by chains, jabbed by forklifts and shocked - methods to get them into position to be slaughtered," including footage of at least two in the "kill chute."
Mendell retracted his previous denial. Yes, downers had been slaughtered for food. "I was shocked, I was horrified and I was sickened" by the video, he said. He had earlier called it "impossible" that cows were shocked.
If we're to believe him, Mendell was living in a rose-colored bubble where workers obeyed all the rules and showed consideration for animals and consumers alike. On Wednesday, the brutality for which he was ultimately responsible became undeniable - his bubble was burst.
It may soon burst for many of America's meat-eating public. After all, the Humane Society picked his plant at random. So it's simply a fantastic coincidence that it happened to be the one place in the country where dangerous, illegal torture of animals is happening? If you believe that, I have 143 million pounds of beef for you to purchase.
The USDA certainly wants you to believe it: The biggest meat scandal in years, it says, is a classic "isolated incident" - there's no reason to lose faith in factory-farmed meat. But there are big problems with USDA's credibility. For one thing, since the regulators, like Mendell, were utterly unaware of the illegal activities at this one plant, how can they speak with any confidence about what's going on anywhere else?
More important, the USDA is far from objective about meat. For example, the agency was found to have broken the law by hiding conflicts of interest and financial ties to the meat and dairy industry among most of its dietary guidelines panel. Like Mendell, and consumers, these officials desperately want to believe their favorite product is safe and aboveboard.
