January 8, 2004  National Public Radio (NPR) All Things Considered

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

And I'm Michele Norris.

Since the discovery of that case of mad cow disease in Washington state, we've learned a lot about the beef industry, perhaps more than some people might like. Terms like 'downer cow' and 'advanced meat recovery' have become all too familiar. Already, federal officials have announced reforms of the industry. Cows that can't stand up on their own, for example, will no longer be deemed OK for food. But critics say that's not enough, that Congress needs to give the Agriculture Department the power to order mandatory recalls and to tell consumers where recalled beef has been sold. NPR's John McChesney reports.

JOHN McCHESNEY reporting:

You no doubt have heard that nearly 10,000 pounds of beef were recalled after the discovery of a Holstein with mad cow disease in Washington state. What you may not have understood is that the recall was voluntary, that even though USDA puts out an alert about potential contamination, it doesn't have the legal authority to demand a recall or to impose sanctions. Caroline Smith DeWaal is food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Ms. CAROLINE SMITH DeWAAL (Safety Director, Center for Science in the Public Interest): USDA is relying on food laws designed a hundred years ago. They don't have modern enforcement tools like mandatory recall authority.

McCHESNEY: Critics compare that to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which has the full authority to recall toys or other products that pose a hazard. And in addition, the commission can tell you where the toys are sold and how to return them. But the USDA can't provide consumers with a list of the grocery stores that have sold recalled beef. Smith DeWaal says because meat recalls are voluntary, the Agriculture Department can't just tell the industry what to do. It has to sit down at the table and strike bargains with a powerful set of interests.

Ms. SMITH DeWAAL: USDA has essentially negotiated away their ability to distribute the list of where the meat has been sold. And this is really a function of their voluntary recall system.

McCHESNEY: One further wrinkle here. USDA also insists that state regulators observe the proprietary secrecy surrounding these customer lists, even if the state has a sunshine law that would normally require disclosure. But Rosemary Mucklow, the executive director of the National Meat Association, argues that there are good reasons for not going public with the lists.

Ms. ROSEMARY MUCKLOW (Executive Director, National Meat Association): The industry has consistently said, 'We will share with the government so that you can go find the product, but we really don't need the world, especially our competitors to know who our customers are.'

McCHESNEY: But critics charge that this line of reasoning ranks the beef industry's convenience as more important than the public's health, and that it's easy for competitors to get this information in other ways anyway. At the Department of Agriculture, the man responsible for the Food Safety Inspection Service, Dr. Gary McKee, says he's satisfied that all is well with the system as it is.

Dr. GARY McKEE (Food Safety Inspection Service, Department of Agriculture): We have a recall system that works. I believe we get the products back much faster than we could in any other method. We've never had a company that did not notify their customers and their outlets or distributors that the product needed to come back, all the way down to the retail.

McCHESNEY: But what about consumers at the retail store? McKee says retailers usually post an alert about a recall, but critics say that a letter-sized posting on a butcher counter is not visible enough, and that often there's no notification at all. Restaurants, for example, are hardly eager to tell customers that what they ate for dinner last night was the subject of a recall. And Smith DeWaal says this voluntary system of notification, even if stores comply, places the burden on the consumer.

Ms. SMITH DeWAAL: Consumers have already purchased the meat, so they shouldn't have to go back to the store to find out if the meat is recalled. They'll probably just cook it up and serve it. The best way to notify consumers is through the media, where they can find out the information while they're still in their homes and avoid eating the product.

McCHESNEY: Now watchdog groups are pressing Congress for new legislation, unsuccessfully attempted twice during the Clinton administration. It would give the USDA mandatory recall authority and would permit the agency to give consumers timely information about where recalled meat has been sold. John McChesney, NPR News, San Francisco.