According to food inspection team members who have blown the whistle to GAP, the USDA shielded ConAgra by a policy that is nothing less than a another cover-up harmful to the consumer and public health. By its "Don't Look, Don't Know" policy for beef inspection, the USDA chose ignorance of the facts over the truth that ConAgra was given the seal of approval for meat that was infected with E. coli many months before the 19 million pounds of tainted beef recalled in June, 2002.
"Because of fear of reprisal, inspectors and veterinarians with the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) cannot come forward publicly and report the failures in the food safety system," said William G. Hughes, an official with the National Association of Federal Veterinarians. "A deliberate climate of fear intimidation has been created among those who actually conduct the in-plant inspections and oversight at meat processing plants."
In addition to a call for a prompt report from the Inspector General, the Government Accountability Project has put forth several recommendations, including:
* ConAgra should fully disclose what it knew and when it knew about the full scope of meat produced with E. coli o157:H7.
* ConAgra should maintain necessary records so that any products later found not to be wholesome can be traced back for two years, as required by law.
* USDA should develop for independent peer review a program for consistent enforcement that ends the double standard between large and small or very small
meat processing facilities.
* USDA should request that the Office of the Inspector General expand its investigation to cover the additional issues raised in the GAP report, such as failure to act on evidence since the summer of 2000 that ConAgra has been shipping tainted meat and not alerting downstream customers or consumers who relied on USDA's seal of approval.
For more information, call Jack Pannell, Communications Director, Government Accountability Project (202/408-0034).
As the nation's leading whistleblower organization, The Government Accountability Project 's mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability through advancing free speech in the workplace and ethical conduct, litigating whistleblower cases, and developing policy and legal reforms of whistleblower laws.
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