Approximately 9 Million pounds of meat were recalled from Northern California meat company, Rancho Feeding Corporation (RFC), due to the meat originating from “diseased and unsound animals” that were not properly inspected. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), RFC processed meat from the diseased animals without proper inspection from the agency.
“Thus, the products are adulterated, because they are unsound, unwholesome or otherwise are unfit for human food and must be removed from commerce,” the FSIS reported. The Petaluma company made the recall. Although there were no reported illnesses in conjunction with these products it still poses a safety hazard to the consumers who buy meat. The Rancho Feeding Corporation were unable to be reached as reporters from CNN and other news agencies tried to get a statement from the company.
A variety of products included in the recall are beef carcasses and parts such as heads, cheeks, lips, livers, feet and tongues in boxes of 20 pounds and bigger. Also Forty-pound boxes of veal bones and 60-pound boxes of veal trim were included in the recall.
Now that the company is under investigation hopefully it will spark a revolution for other companies to have their products inspected by federal agents to ensure the safety of not only consumers but manufacturers and distributors as well. Our country has been facing other issues with meat such as Mad Cow disease also known as BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy)which is a progressive neurological disorder of cattle that results from infection by an unusual transmissible agent called a prion. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) as of April 2012 23 cases of BSE were identified in North America with 4 in the U.S. and 19 in Canada.