May 30, 2009

US food safety is compromised as mega food companies there are identified as the source of deadly diseases.

On May 21, Illinois-based meat producer Valley Meats recalled over 95,000 tonnes of ground beef products that are suspected of E. coli contamination. In 2008 alone, countless recalls were initiated either because of contamination or foreign objects were found in the products.

This was not Valley Meats' first contamination case, as it had recalled more than 45,300kg of ground beef in 2007. In that same year, California-based United Food Group also recalled 2.6 million kg of beef products that had been transported to 11 US states.

US researchers have been warning for years that many domestic meat producers and packers do not ensure that faecal matter is not mixed into the meat during slaughter.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, in 1999 there were 73,000 cases of E. coli infection which caused 60 deaths in the US, mostly due to the consumption of undercooked and contaminated ground beef. But independent researchers at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School argued that the infection causes 250 deaths annually.

US academics have also been drawing attention to the widespread use of artificial growth hormones and antibiotics in the cattle industry to boost animal growth.

The uncontrolled use of hormones in cattle can lead to a dime-sized piece of meat containing billions of millions of molecules that pose cancer risk, according to Roy Hertz, a former director of endocrinology at the National Cancer Institute.

US doctors are also concerned that consuming hormone-treated meat can lead to breast cancer.

US cattle farmers routinely administer sex hormones to their cattle, injecting the substances directly into the muscle tissue that is used to make meat products. Concerns that the USDA is not exercising the necessary supervision in the meat industry linger, and it appears that lack of regulation and good slaughterhouse practices are the cause of recurring E. coli infection of beef.

A slew of countries have already slapped total or partial bans on US meat imports, and the problem may continue haunting the US if the country fails to beef up the safety of its meat products.