February 18, 2004 Scripps Howard News Service by JON ORTIZ

Los Angeles County bypassed the pact when it investigated a Southern California jerky manufacturer that processed more than half a ton of possibly tainted beef, The Bee has learned. None of the beef jerky from Glenoaks Food Inc. in Sun Valley reached stores.

Los Angeles public health officials learned that Glenoaks received the beef despite a state process that keeps distribution details from becoming public unless affected businesses agree.

The secrecy is among the terms of a memorandum of understanding between California and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The memorandum has been a subject of controversy since the USDA announced Dec. 23 that it was asking for a voluntary recall of meat that might have been tainted by the first known U.S. case of mad cow disease.

Federal and state officials say that because meat recalls are voluntary, they must hold in confidence any proprietary information, including distribution and sales records that the government uses to track recalled meat.

"We have talked with USDA, and we have agreed to discuss some of the terms (of the memorandum)," said Robert Miller, spokesman for the state Department of Health Services.

He declined to detail which points of the agreement would be discussed or when talks would begin.

An opt-out clause allows California or the USDA to void the agreement with 30 days' notice to the other party.

The USDA refuses to give any specific meat recall information to the 39 states that haven't signed its memorandum of understanding.

Consumer groups have blasted the memorandum as benefiting beef businesses at the expense of public health.

"We certainly think that anything that has an impact on consumer health shouldn't be hidden," said Linda Sherry of Consumer Action, a San Francisco advocacy group. "Consumers thought that the USDA had mad cow pretty well sewn up and under control. This shows that they didn't. So we need to shine the light on important facts and figures. Consumers really have a right to know."