Massive beef recall fouling U.S. prospects for exports

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward T. Schafer said Friday that the nation’s largest beef recall had set back negotiations to ship U.S. beef to Japan and South Korea.

Those markets were closed to the U.S. cattle industry in 2003 after a scare over bovine spongiform encephalopathy, better known as mad cow disease.

Schafer said at a convention of meatpackers and processors that he was hopeful trade talks would continue, but that the Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Co. recall had diplomats asking why the U.S. couldn’t ship safe meat.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recalled 143 million pounds of beef processed by the Chino slaughterhouse after the Humane Society of the United States released undercover video that showed slaughterhouse workers there kicking and shoving sick and crippled cows and forcing them to stand with electric prods, forklifts and water hoses.

“Downer” cattle, or those too sick to stand, are banned from the food supply because they carry a higher risk of mad cow disease and other illnesses.

Schafer also said Friday that he was not in favor of making any immediate changes to meat inspection regulations in the wake of the recall. The agriculture secretary said he would wait for an investigation into the recall to be completed before making any policy change recommendations.