Meat-industry leaders have their shirts in a knot after the
Kansas City Star published articles describing what’s been happening to the
beef industry.
The leaders complain that they offered the newspaper full
co-operation, providing statistical information and allowing visits to feedlots
and packing plants.
What seems to upset them is the report that some people get
sick when they buy steaks and roasts that have been “needled” to make them
tender, but don’t label the beef so consumers know it ought to be thoroughly
cooked throughout.
The beef-packing industry has been resisting pressure to
label “tenderized” beef.
In Canada, Edmontonians who ate “rare” steaks they barbecued
fell will with E. coli 0157:H7 food poisoning. They traced the harmful bacteria
to beef from XL Foods Inc. at Brooks, Alta., tenderized and sold by Costco.
The meat industry’s reaction is familiar to me: shoot the
messenger!
