Recalled
The only time I have ever seen products recalled that were sold at the farmers market where cheeses from an on-farm creamery who was notoriously filthy to begin with. Don’t worry, they are not at any of Central Farm markets. Still, customers seem worried each week with questions about food safety these days. In February, there was a massive ground beef recall. In April, it was cheddar cheese, powdered milk, and buttermilk. In June, we saw a recall for soft cheese and infant formula. July was a busy month for bad berries, iceberg, lettuce, and eggs. And here we are in August being advised not to eat, jalapeños, beef, or pastrami.
Market patrons, fear not, the beef being recalled was imported from Argentina. Chances are there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, except for the fact that somebody at the USDA dropped the ball. 30,000 pounds of meat that is deemed in edible because it was not reinspected. Doesn’t that imply that it has already been inspected and needed to go through a second inspection as it entered the United States? According to a report of an audit conducted in Argentina in May 2023 that evaluated the food safety system governing raw beef products exported to the United States, Argentina’s meat inspection system for export facilities is considered robust and reliable by international authorities, including the USDA FSIS and the European Union.
You might think that if you’re buying your beef at the farmers market, or even from a local farm or buying club, that your food supply is safe. Nothing could be further than from the truth. Sure, you’re going to be protected as much as possible by mandatory bacterial testing, knowledge that the animal was ambulatory when it arrived at the processor and that it was not diseased, and that the processing plant had a clean facility. But talk to anyone who processes protein under federal inspection, which is anyone who is selling meat by the cut or wholesale to a retail customer, be it someone who wants a single steak or a restaurant ordering cases, and they will have plenty of horror stories about their interface with the government agencies designated to protect our food. The United States has one of the safest food supplies in the world, but reliable access to processing for independent producers has been eroding for decades.
The USDA has the power to not only toss out meat that they consider a threat to the public, but to also shut down a processing plant. Similarly, the FDA has the same power over dairy products. I really feel sorry for the guys making pepperoni pizzas because they are at the mercy of two very dysfunctional government agencies. And yes, I get to make that judgment call because I have been processing meat under USDA inspection since 1988. I don’t care if it has been a Republican or a Democrat in the White House, neither of the agencies under the umbrella of one big organization has been on the side of independent, small farmers producing food and the external organizations which support them in doing so. Over the years in writing this weekly blog, I have tried to explain the bureaucracy that your farmers must contend with in order to get food on your table.
99% of the time when a government agency steps in telling an independent producer or processor that they are not in compliance the issue revolves around paperwork, and quite often on paperwork that has absolutely no bearing on the establishment or even food safety. Even more insidious is hiring a professional (often a former USDA employee) to do the paperwork, and the inspector denies the veracity of the professional paperwork simply because they don’t like the contractor who did the work in the first place. The entire inspection process is subjective to human interpretation. Although there is an appeal process when contentions arise between inspectors and plant owners, the USDA and FDA make the process so onerous often attorneys and mediators must get involved. Lately I’ve heard nightmare stories from small scale processors who are trying to appeal inspector decisions that negatively impact their business only to have their paperwork disappear into the abyss of Washington DC and then find out the office that handles appeals has been shuttered. How do you do business in this kind of environment?
30,000 pounds of beef is a small drop in the bucket compared to the 2,000,000 pounds a day McDonald’s alone uses. What bothers me is that somewhere a farmer or a rancher has put the time and effort into breeding, birthing, feeding, and selling an animal bound to become burgers only to have it needlessly tossed in the trash because someone forgot to file the correct paperwork. Unless you have the capacity to raise and process your own protein on your own property for your own consumption, your food supply is not safe from this type of bureaucratic insanity. My heart goes out to those gauchos who did all that work for nothing.