He’s Not Going to Take This Anymore

Most people imagine government-sponsored conferences to be dull events. But when Edward L. Menning DVM, executive vice president of the National Assn. of Federal Veterinarians, spoke at a food safety summit hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington March 31, the audience encountered the Howard Beale of the food world. Menning delivered a dose of stomach-turning tales of modern meat plants that were more reminiscent of Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” than the sanitary image the food industry portrays. “Even today, there is no way of telling what goes into a hamburger or hot dog,” he said in one of his more printable remarks. Response from shocked attendees was initially slow in coming. One industry person simply said Menning’s warnings were “remarkable.”