Is the USDA Trying to Poison Our Children?

Last summer, the USDA detected a salmonella outbreak in ground beef produced by Beef Packers Inc., which supplies huge amounts of meat to the National School Lunch Program, reports USA TODAY.  The outbreak caused 29 illnesses in 11 states, and the USDA told the company to recall 825,769 pounds of ground beef that Beef Packers' Fresno factory had produced in June.

Amazingly, the recall covered only beef received by certain stores and excluded meat that was sent to schools. USA TODAY reports that even while instructing Beef Packers to recall the meat, the USDA was purchasing 450,000 pounds of ground beef processed at the Fresno plant during the period in question to feed to our nation's children.

Wait, what? Yup, you heard right: the USDA knowingly fed schoolkids meat that had a chance of being contaminated with salmonella.

Of the four government orders processed from June 5 to 23, one tested positive for salmonella and was rejected by the government. The other three tested negative, but because salmonella is often unevenly distributed in food, any meat processed in the same plant on the same day as other meat that was recalled should also be rejected, argues James Marsden, professor of food safety at Kansas State University.

Here's the kicker: When USA TODAY demanded data about the matter under the Freedom of Information Act, the USDA handed over the salmonella tests but at first withheld the names of the companies associated with each result. USDA spokesman Bobby Gravitz told USA TODAY that releasing the names "would discourage companies from contracting to supply product for the National School Lunch Program and hamper our ability to provide the safe and nutritious foods to America's school children."

To echo Marion Nestle, you can't make this stuff up!

The agency did eventually release the names in response to a USA TODAY appeal and some negative attention from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). But I still wouldn't trust the USDA any more than I would a hamburger from Beef Packers Inc.

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