Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser [199]
216 She routinely falsified her checklist: Gary Mickelson, a spokesman for IBP, told me that an employee who falsifies such documentation is subject to disciplinary action by the company. He also told me that IBP employees have in fact been terminated for such behavior.
220-degree steam: The number comes from “SPS 400: Information Update,” a manual published by Frigoscandia Equipment, the manufacturer of steam pasteurization units.
by about 90 percent: Ibid.
“We have been informed that carcasses”: IBP memo from Dean Danilson to Leo Lang re: outrail cattle, May 19, 1997.
217 The dirtiest meat was to be shipped out: When the memo leaked in June of 1998, IBP denied that it was shipping contaminated meat to outside suppliers, claimed its unusual outrail policy had been devised solely to address shelf-life concerns — and said that, in any event, the policy was no longer in effect. Gary Mickelson, an IBP spokesman, repeated the same assertions to me, adding that “IBP’s quality and food safety programs… are considered by many to be the ‘best’ in the industry. We will not sell any products — whether it be boxed beef or beef carcasses that we do not believe are safe for human consumption.” See also “Ground Beef Guidelines Are Insufficient, STOP Says,” Food Chemical News, June 8, 1998.
research for the Star Wars antimissile program: See “Titan to Put Whammy on Food Bacteria,” San Diego Union-Tribune, May 18, 1999.
get rid of the word “irradiation”: See “Beef Industry Recommends Irradiation Rule Include Ready-to-Eat Meats,” Food Labeling News, June 23, 1999; Rick Lingle, “Food Irradiation Acceleration,” Packaging Digest, July 1, 1999; and Steven F. Grover, “Pasteurized Foods in Your Future?” Food Management, October 1999. Grover is a vice president of the National Restaurant Association.
A 1983 investigation by NBC News: For the story of Rudy “Butch” Stanko, see Wayne Slater, “Domestic News,” AP, September 19, 1983; “Agriculture to Investigate a Meat Plant in Denver,” New York Times, September 20, 1983; Judy Harrington, “Packing Company, Owner, Guilty of Selling Bad Meat to Government,” AP, September 15, 1984; and Neal Karlen with Jeff P. Copeland, “A ‘Mystery Meat’ Scandal,” Newsweek, September 24, 1984.
219 an eleven-year-old-boy became seriously ill: For the Bauer Meat story, see Patricia Guthrie, “Government Says Bauer Meats Are Unfit to Eat,” Atlanta Journal, October 14, 1998; “Bauer Meat ‘Unfit for Human Consumption,’” Meat Processing, November 1, 1998; “Bacteria Wars: How 3 Processors Responded,” St. Petersburg Times, February 14, 1999; Robert Trigaux, “Tougher Standards Battle Meat Bacteria,” St. Petersburg Times, February 14, 1999; and “E. Coli Suit Principals Confer; Child’s Family Sues Florida Company,” Florida Times-Union, May 15, 1999.
a dozen children in Finley, Washington: For the Northern States Beef story, see Elliott Jaspin and Scott Montgomery, “Feds Buy Bad Beef for Low Bid; E. coli Outbreak Results from School Lunch Program Supply System,” Atlanta Journal, March 28, 1999; and “Tainted School Tacos,” Seattle Times, May 8, 1999.
219 as much as 47 percent of the company’s ground beef: See Bill Lodge, “Dallas Beef Plant That Failed Salmonella Tests Challenges Screening System,” Dallas Morning News, December 10, 1999; and Tiara Ellis and Michael Saul, “Dallas Meat Processor Recalls Beef After USDA Detects E. coli,” Dallas Morning News, December 26, 1999.
about 1.4 million illnesses: Mead et al., “Food-Related Illness and Death.”
the USDA continued to purchase thousands of tons: See Scott Montgomery and Elliot Jaspin, “USDA Purchased Meat from Texas Plant after Contamination Cited,” Atlanta Journal, Decmber 4, 1999.
annually providing as much as 45 percent: Cited