The fifty-year-old, family-owned and operated Modesto company said in a recent statement: "This is the first recall in our history and we will investigate the matter thoroughly and take any measures deemed necessary to further elevate our safety standards, protect consumers, and ensure confidence in our products."At the Los Angeles Times, P.J. Huffstutter points to calls for more Federal regulation and oversight to prevent illnesses in the future:
"...at least in the eyes of some food safety advocates, this most recent recall is one more reason that the federal government needs to roll out more comprehensive – and digitized -- traceability programs."
But in the next paragraph Huffstutter also quotes Donna Rosenbaum, executive director of Safe Tables Our Priority, a private, non-profit organization, in an apparent criticism of the regulatory regime:
"It’s concerning that the USDA was alerted to this problem in July and it took three weeks for the recall information to get out to the public."
And not only did it take three weeks for Federal regulators to get the information to consumers, but Valley Meat Company says that it maintains daily, on-site inspections by the USDA.
The vast Federal regulatory regime didn't prevent the meat from becoming infected in the first place, and then took its time in notifying the public. Will more regulation really solve the problem?
Read the entire article at CAIVN.
W. E. Messamore,
Editor in Chief, THL
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