Voluntary Meat Recalls: Does the system work?

Published on: March 15, 2003

Consumers of beef have no choice but to put their trust in meat suppliers to ensure food safety. In fact, when a discovery is made of the potential or existence of contamination, meat recalls are conducted under a voluntary basis by meat processors, and they are not required by law to inform the consumer of the companies from which the tainted meat was sold.

Apparently some officials feel the “voluntary” method of conducting meat recalls is effective. But according to the CDC, an estimated 73,000 cases of E. coli infection and 61 deaths occur in the United States each year and most of the cases have been associated with eating contaminated ground beef – so, is it working?

The Bush administration feels that legislation that requires meat companies to tell consumers which stores received potentially contaminated meat would only encumber meat recalls and would ultimately put more people at risk of becoming sick. The Agriculture Department says they would oppose measures to force companies to publish recall lists, because they predict that companies would be less cooperative in sharing proprietary information, which would make tracking the contaminated meat difficult. However, some consumer advocates disagree strongly stating that having the information could prevent illnesses and save lives.

According to the American Meat Institute, the only information consumers need to determine if they have the recalled meat is the establishment codes and the product code dates. This perspective certainly protects the credibility of companies who sell meat, but does it protect the consumer?

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