To anyone who has seen the film, Fast Food Nation, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If not, rent it but remember it is not for the faint of heart. I’m not a vegan or vegetarian, but I do limit my intake of beef and meats all together simply because it just makes me feel better internally. I must also confess that lately with all the meat recalls that have been on going I am a bit turned off.Â
First it was Sam’s Club and Tysons to kick our summers off. Then in June another recall from out of California of 5.7 million pounds were recalled due to E.Coli. Seriously. It goes on too. Last week a New Jersey company, Topps Meat, added itself to the list by recalling 21.7 million pounds. What gives? Why so much E.Coli.? Well, I can’t help but think back to that line from the film, “there’s sh*t in the meat.” These are some of the largest meat recalls in recent history and a major problem for the meat processing industry. While many news articles fail to say WHY the meat is contaminated I can only guess it is from poor and/or rushed processing techniques.Â
Now the USDA is asking people to check their supplies. Open your freezers and look at the dates and the distribution names on the label. Is E.Coli sitting in your freezer? We as consumers have a big stake in the recalling of this contaminated food. But here is my question. If that is the case, then how come we as consumers seem to be powerless to stop the way this food is processed? Do we really need all this meat? Can’t we all take a meat free day, save some energy (meat production is energy inefficient) and demand that these plants and companies watch what they are doing? Less accidents would occur on the job and our food would presumably be safer. Isn’t that why ‘The Jungle’ was written in 1906? To shed light on this type of stuff. How did we come full circle only 100 or so years later? Am I right?Â
It just seems that in this great country that we do live in we seem to be having an awful lot of recalls lately. It’s not right and we as the American public need to figure out what is really going on. Less Britney more checking what we are putting in our homes and mouths.Â
