USDA's Largest Beef Recall

February 21, 2008

Food & Water Watch writes a letter to USDA to urging them to seek an emergency regulation that would list all of the retail consignees involved in the 143 million pound recall of beef products from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company of Chino, California (FSIS Recall Number 005-2008).

USDA Letter Regarding Downer Cows

February 14, 2008

Food & Water Watch writes a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer regarding recently documented practices at the Westland/Hallmark slaughter facility in California. On January 30, 2008 the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released a video recorded at the plant that revealed the inhumane treatment of cattle. It also indicated the potential for downer cows, which present an increased risk of mad cow disease, to enter the food supply.

House Hearing on Carbon Monoxide Meat

November 13, 2007

Testimony of Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Committee on Energy and Commerce

USDA Meat Inspectors Vacancies

October 23, 2007

Food & Water Watch writes a letter to USDA requesting the number of Federal meat inspector vacancies under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA Case No.: 07-216 Number of Vacancies).

USDA Lacks Action on Food Safety

October 18, 2007

Food & Water Watch writes a letter to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) on E. coli, October 17, 2007.

Food Irradiation Mislabeling

July 3, 2007

Re: Docket No. 2005N-0272 – Irradiation in the Production, Processing and Handling of Food (72 Fed. Reg. 16291-306, April 4, 2007)

Canadian Cattle, USDA Letter

June 14, 2007

Letter from Food & Water Watch to the USDA regarding Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) – mad cow disease.

USDA: Contaminated Animal Feed, No Recall?

May 4, 2007

Food & Water Watch sent the following letter to USDA to ascertain why the Food Safety and Inspection Service failed to initiate recalls of pork and poultry products that were produced from animals that ate feed adulterated with melamine. (See pdf version for appendices referenced.)

USDA: Vacancies Mean Meat Supply Not Inspected

April 18, 2007

Food & Water Watch sent a letter today to U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Richard Raymond outlining our concerns about agency’s lack of transparency on meat inspector vacancies.

What “Risk Based Inspection” Means for Consumers

January 22, 2007

Meat and poultry are the only consumer products in the United States that get stamped with a government seal of approval. Laws such as the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act created a standard of “continuous” government inspection in meat and poultry plants. This standard means that USDA meat inspectors look at every carcass and every bird, and are on-site for at least part of every day in plants that are processing meat and poultry products after the slaughter stage. This level of government oversight of a product is unique – and none too popular with the meat industry, which has been working for decades to reduce the amount of government meat inspection.

Contaminated Meat, USDA Letter

November 30, 2006

Food & Water Watch sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture objecting to a decision by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to allow the Swift plant in Grand Island, Nebraska to sell beef that clearly should have been rejected for human consumption.

Risk-Based Inspection Letter to USDA

October 30, 2006

Food & Water Watch comments to the USDA opposing all of the Agency’s risk-based inspection proposals to date.

Irradiated Fruit Imports

September 25, 2006

Irradiated pineapples, mangoes and other tropical fruit from Thailand should not be imported into the United States because of dangers posed by invasive pests and increased competition that domestic farmers will face, Food & Water Watch told the US Department of Agriculture.

USDA Should Revise Avian Flu Plan, Coalition Statement

September 25, 2006

A broad coalition of stakeholder groups issued a statement criticizing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plan for responding to a U.S. outbreak of bird flu and calling for revisions to protect the public and poultry farmers. The coalition charged that the USDA does not acknowledge the risk posed by common poultry industry practices in the emergence and spread of highly-pathogenic avian influenza.

Viruses Applied to Food, FDA Criticized

September 18, 2006

Food & Water Watch comments to the Food and Drug Administration’s Final Rule on Food Additives Permitted for Direct Addition to Food for Human Consumption; Bacteriophage Preparation.

Letter on Chinese Poultry Imports

April 14, 2006

Food & Water Watch told Congress to ban poultry imports from China, due to concerns over unsanitary slaughter and processing facilities there, Avian flu, insufficient consumer labeling, smuggling of banned products and increased competition with US producers.

NRC Environmental Assessment Deficient

February 1, 2006

Congress: Livestock Waste Amendment

February 1, 2006

A letter urging Congress to reject an amendment which would burden communities with pollution cleanup costs by exempting livestock waste from health and environmental laws.

FOIA Letter to FDA for Work Plans

Food & Water Watch wrote a letter to Food and Drug Administration seeking the Office of Regulatory Affairs’ Work Plan 206 for FY 2001 through FY 2007. The documents would help Food & Water Watch assess how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allocates its field staff to protect food, drugs, biologics, cosmetics, medical devices, animal feed and drugs, and radiation-emitting products.