Food Recalls and Our Environment: Who is Responsible?

by: Eddie C

Sat Nov 07, 2009 at 19:15:49 PM PST

According to a USA Today story Eating can be energy-efficient, too "The production of 1 pound of beef creates 14.8 pounds of C02, the same amount produced by 20.59 miles of driving." Also "It takes about 15 pounds of feed to make 1 pound of beef."

By that calculation when an E. coli contamination caused 545,699 pounds of ground beef to be recalled last week over 8 million pounds of C02 was generated. The carbon emissions equivalent of driving from New York to San Francisco 3,867 times were produced for far worse than nothing, produced for poison. Since it would have taken 8,185,485 pounds of feed to get this tainted beef to market, at 43,655 tons the combined total of grain that was mostly left behind as manure and garbage beef placed in landfill are comparable in weight (but far larger in mass) to the ill fated ocean liner Titanic.

This recent recall that also killed two people sounds extremely wasteful but it is only a drop in the bucket when you look at the bigger picture.

Beef companies recalled over twenty-nine million pounds of meat in 2007. 2008 saw at least sixteen recalls of beef products, totaling at least 2,361,295 pounds of meat. And to date in 2009, beef companies have recalled close to two million pounds of product, if not more.

So that would make the 493,747,166 pound carbon foot print of recalled beef in the past three years the equivalent of driving 686,909,064 miles or 7.4 astronomical units, about seven and a half trips to the sun in a mid sized sedan. Using the total of 33,261,295 pounds of recalled beef, that calculates out to over 500 million pounds of feed!

By now these recalls have become so commonplace that the media is beyond discussing responsibility or solutions. Outside of a public service message to clear out freezers, poison being served is hardly even newsworthy anymore. What about the disposal of so much waste, the role it plays in world hunger and whose fault is it is anyway?

Since a great deal of food is already consumed before recall it isn't quite the landfill disaster that it sounds like and should be looked as a consumer protection issue. Federal health authorities already estimate that foodborne diseases sicken 76 million people, cause 325,000 hospitalizations, and kill 5,000 Americans every year, but whatever the number comes out to in our landfills, something is very broken about protection after the fact.

Landfill is not the only issue. What about the water foot print of all that tainted beef? One source claimed that it takes 2,500 gallons to make a pound of beef. By those calculations, besides all of the petroleum based fertilizer mixed in with the feed creating a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and endocrine disruptors washing into our fresh water streams, it took 1.3 billion gallons of fresh water just to make the most recent recall of 545,699 pounds. The Cattle industry argues strongly against those numbers because much of the water is recycled and they make a valid point. Without that chemically treated crop water and antibiotic laced cow urine going back into the water table, using that figure of 2,500 gallons per pound, the total water used for the recalled beef of the past three years isn't even possible.

Water is not the only liquid to consider. Something else to think about while politicians go on about "decreasing our dependence on foreign oil." Michael Pollan once presented another cost of the beef we do actually consume.

... There is another cost, too, that never gets counted. When you eat meat, you're eating oil.

... This goes back to the cost of corn. The reason we can grow corn so cheaply is because we give the corn chemical fertilizer that is a fossil fuel product. ... So you've taken the rumen, which is this sustainable solar organ, and we've turned it into just another fossil fuel burner. Which is the last thing we need.

And working with an economist at Cornell ... I wanted to figure out how much oil it took to grow my cow to slaughter with. It turns out it's about 100 gallons of oil to grow a single animal. So there's a cost that you're not seeing. It's the cost of the oil; it's the cost of having a military to defend the Gulf. It's all there.

What is going on here? Is this a case of free market capitalism at its worst or of government at its worst? It is getting harder and harder to tell in political landscape that is so messed up the public is confused about figuring out who should be handling what. But as much as the government stance that the point of interaction with the industry is once the product is finished, the natural and human resources wasted after so many recalls are extremely unproductive. Often these recalls happen after the packaging of food so along with just throwing food away, the packaging gets thrown out too. For the Americans who have been harmed, on top of the anguish, still more human resources are employed in both hospital care and litigation. So who should clean up this mess?

Some Americans think it is a consumption issue. They want to explain to their neighbors "Livestock is responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together." Yes public education about the real cost of beef could curtail use and steer the public toward more sustainable sources of food. Who is responsible for informing the people and why does the government work so hard to make beef as cheap as possible? Government corn subsidies beef so cheap that all a cash strapped family can afford is a McDonald's Dinner. But as bad a problem as "Supersize Me" is, at least that is beef that is actually consumed. Why is beef so unregulated and artificially supported that it is being allowed to be produced so it can be carted off to the dump?

Many blame those factory feed lots competing under the slimmest of margins and feeding government subsidized corn to their cows. American corn that grows so efficiently because of a chemical so dangerous that it is banned in it's country of origin. Corn that is so unnatural to the diet of a cow the antibiotics that keeps them from getting sick is passed along to the consumer in beef that is unnaturally high in saturated fats. Then there is the E. coli ridden bellies of these mistreated cows to deal with. According to Michael Pollan, who says that they could reduce the e. coli in the guts of cows by 80 percent just by putting them on grass for five days,

These are animals that stand around in their manure all day long, eating a diet of grain that happens to turn a cow's rumen into an ideal habitat for E. coli 0157:H7.

Many blame sloppy slaughterhouse practices. Since E. coli is not actually found in meat even an infected cow can be eaten safely through proper butchering and safe handling. The pathogen contaminates beef from fecal matter on the hides of cows that have been standing in manure for the past fourteen months and from the digestive tracts of cattle getting mixed in with the meat. With 80 percent of the beef-packing industry controlled by four transnational companies, some could argue that it is not only a government anti-trust issue but all of that beef in one place is a matter of national security. The fact that in American beef production, mixing 100 different cows in a single burger is already a recipe for disaster, but once again it's a bottom line issue in a cutthroat industry where line speed trumps public safety and mistakes are made. Just like on factory farms the working conditions at these processors are appalling. Since meat packing is the most dangerous job in the country in terms of non-fatal injuries the government taking an interest in worker safety prior to these many injuries could help prevent these continuing disasters.

Then there is the lack of pathogen testing before cow manure laced hamburger makes it to the American table. The U.S. Department of Agriculture that is supposed to be both protecting public health and promoting the cattle industry claims to be stepping up efforts but obviously with last week's news the government's ground beef testing program still leaves consumers vulnerable to dangerous bacteria. They even do a little testing themselves to promote the industry inspecting itself but since the last major beef recall from October 31 there have been nine more and that indicates a very wasteful industry with little oversight until it is too late. The government seems a bit passive after Tyson actually tried to stop selling beef to Costco because the supermarket chain was testing for E. coli. For aggressive government action there was the case of Creekstone Farms Premium Beef vs. USDA. In 2006 when the meatpacking company decided to test every cow for bovine spongiform encephalitis, they were stopped by the government because "The USDA's stated position was that allowing any meatpacking company to test every cow would undermine the agency's official position that random testing was scientifically adequate to assure safety." Creekstone sued and won but in 2008 a higher court sides with the U.S.D.A. and Creekstone has no right to test its own cattle for Mad Cow Disease in this free market!

There were so many things the government could have done along the way as giant corporations took over a once healthy food supply. Instead political contribution checks were cashed, food laws were designed by lobbyist and the government went partners with these corporations to drive medium sized family farmers out of business. Now food is all about quarterly earnings and if campaign contributions trump public safety, then since it gets even less attention, for the planet's sake is even further down the list.

But as years go by with each new politician making promises and going to Washington unwilling to upset any industry it is more and more obvious that you are on your own as the food industry is left to their own devises. As the NPR movie review For Health Or Profit, But Not Necessarily For Both points out, while the government can't seem to come up with any long term solutions, the beef industry does have answers like Eldon Roth's patented ammonium hydroxide pathogen reduction process. Chopped meat will still have cow shit in it but ammonia is their answer.  

It's not just beef. How many major recalls can you remember. Dead pets are a miserable reminder for some Americans. There have been huge recalls of pistachios, spinach, peanut butter, cookie dough and even baby food. Today as politicians discuss global warming from inside their bubble, perhaps they should be asked a question. What is the sum total of landfill from recalled food and how much methane gas does the waste produce?

If you have the financial means to protect yourself then buying food from farmer's markets, organic grocers and CSA's offers the added bonus of not giving your money to an industry that is destroying the environment and gives part of your money to elected officials so they can have the freedom to cause even more damage.

If you don't have the means then you have a right to be bitter as you sit down to each meal knowing that not only are your tax dollars working against you. Paying for that meal works against your children's future and is sort of like getting on an airplane. The odds are way in your favor but it might kill you. Don't let the fact that air transportation is safer with a population death rate of roughly 0.5 per 100000 persons. The American food industry kills 1.7 per 100,000 inhabitants each year.