UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The entire beef industry will pay a steep price for the abuse of sick and injured animals at a Southern California meat-packing plant that led to a record recall of beef last week, according to an expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

"But the end result may be that an already-safe meat-production system becomes even safer," says John Comerford, associate professor of dairy and animal science and coordinator of beef programs at the university. "This unfortunate incident is being used to indict the entire beef industry, and that is too bad,"

On Feb. 17, the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., of Chino, Calif., recalled 143 million pounds of raw and frozen beef products -- the largest such recall in U.S. history -- after an undercover video revealed workers abusing sick and injured animals at the plant. The recall was based on violations of the Humane Slaughter Act and was not triggered by a specific health or disease risk to humans.

"The criminal behavior by employees of the meat-packing house will be punished," says Comerford. "But the actions of a few people there have cast doubt on everyone in the entire production chain. The farmers and ranchers have done what they could to safeguard the quality and the welfare of the cattle they produce, and their efforts have been discredited by this incident."

Those involved in violations at the California packing plant -- which involved using a forklift to make "downer" cows stand up and harassing sick or injured animals with electric prods to get them up -- will pay a huge price, Comerford notes. "They may go to jail and may already have been fired, supervisors will lose their jobs and the whole plant will suffer serious economic losses," he says. "That processing plant may never work again. Processing plants that try to bend the rules or are inadvertently forced to recall product usually close. The chances of them being able to survive that kind of economic hit are very small. People won't trust them to do business again. The penalty is huge -- they are held accountable for their product."

United States beef regulations prohibit meat from cows that can't stand for whatever reason from entering the food chain -- in certain cases it can be used for pet food or become fertilizer. Meat from cows that have obvious neurological distress also is not allowed in the human food chain. USDA inspectors work onsite at large meat-packing facilities, Comerford points out, and there was a USDA inspector working at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.

"This must not happen again," Comerford says. "The beef industry and USDA are trying to improve oversight at plants to prevent this kind of behavior. Beef producers did not cause this problem, yet they will be hurt from the loss of confidence in their product."

The country's beef-safety program is working, Comerford contends. Keeping downer cows out of the food chain is just one precaution that makes sense because they are more likely to carry some risk. There is also antibiotic-residue, E. coli and other food-safety testing and carcass inspection being done at regular intervals on meat at the plants.

"We have the best beef-safety program in the world," he says. "There are a number of firewalls between the animal and the consumer, and they work unless there is carelessness, negligence or criminal activity that circumvents the safeguards to the product. The beef industry is now stepping in and saying, 'Enough!' We must tighten up oversight so the animals are not abused.'"

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EDITORS: Contact John Comerford at 814-863-3661 or by e-mail at jxc16@psu.edu.

Writer/editor Jeff Mulhollem 814-863-2719 jjm29@psu.edu