Last month, we heard about a Southern California slaughterhouse's terrible abuse of "downer" cows, or cows that were too sick to walk. Today, the USDA reported that they have evidence that Westland/Hallmark Meat Company -- the slaughterhouse in question -- did not consult with veterinarians on a regular basis when cows became sick. Because of that, the USDA is recalling all affected meat, 143 million pounds worth.

One hundred forty three million pounds. The AP has already done the math for us. Not only is it the biggest beef recall in U.S. history, it's also enough beef for every man, woman, and child to have two hamburgers. All I can think of right now is that, in this era of "green" living, what a massive waste of resources, energy, and animal life it is to raise and feed that much cattle and then to screw up at the slaughterhouse and have to throw it all away.

Food safety is clearly an issue that's not going away in the U.S. I hope that the video that caused so much outcry and the recall that followed is a loud-and-clear message that Americans want food that's humanely and safely produced.

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Safeway, one of the larger supermarket chains in the U.S., may have distributed fresh ground beef products to customers in five states that were contaminated with multi-drug resistant Salmonella, said the USDA this week.

The states included in the USDA's report were Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and New Mexico. The potentially contaminated beef products were sold between September 19 and November 5, 2007.

If you purchased fresh beef products from Safeway in those five states in the listed timeframe above -- and perhaps froze them for later use -- you may want to discard of them safely now.

If not frozen, these products have been consumed by now, of course. Still, those who stockpile fresh meat in those larger freezers, take note.

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Another food recall has happened, folks. Beef products made by the American Foods Group have been recalled as of this weekend.

The recall includes nearly 96,000 pounds of ground beef. Two people were sickened and the cause of their illnesses were found to be possibly E. coli bacteria from the tainted meat, according to the USDA.

American Food Group's products under recall include coarse and fine ground beef chuck, sirloin and chop beef. The products ewer sold to distributors operating in Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Virginia. For the full, detailed list of recalled products, see this.

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Yet another food recall has been unveiled, as supermarket chain owner Supervalu indicated yesterday that it was recalling some beef from Albertson's and Save-A-Lot stores due to an e-coli contamination.

States with Albertson's stores affected by the recall included California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, and Save-A-Lot stores in Arizona, California and Nevada. Watch for the "Moran's" label, as that is the beef under recall.

Most likely, most of the affected beef has already been pulled form store refrigerated shelves, and more information about the recall is available at 1-800-325-4164.

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According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 129,000 pounds of beef products in 15 states are being recalled due to possible E. coli contamination. The states affected are Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

All the packages of potentially contaminated meat products were made by David Creek Meats and Seafood for Gordon Food Services. They are labeled "Est. 1947A," and were shipped between March 1 and April 30.

E. coli is a bacteria that can cause several different intestinal and extra-intestinal infections such as urinary tract infections, meningitis, and pneumonia. Initial symptoms include stomach cramps and diarrhea -- both of which may be severe.

To read the full recall release from the USDA, go here.

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Nearly a half million pounds of beef from California and Pennsylvania have been recalled due to fears it's been contaminated with E. coli. Other states affected are: Virginia, West Virginia, Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

The illnesses stemming from the Pennsylvania recall seem to all be connected to one restaurant where four or five customers got sick. Health officials say that because the number of illness is small and because exposure happened several weeks ago, that customers can feel comfortable eating at the restaurant.

Frozen beef products being recalled have the code "EST. 8264" on them and a date code of 118-6 or 4/28/06.

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