Talking about...Self regulation, HSUS, JBS, Hallmark

Point:
"The video of the Hallmark plant is evidence of what can happen when packing plants are left to police themselves without the government oversight they need. When the company is in charge of creating their own records and doing their own food safety checks, they're not going to find problems themselves"
Trent Berhow, the Vice-Chairman of the National Joint Council of Food Safety Inspection Locals.
Counterpoint:
"Clearly, what we have in Hallmark/Westland is an anomaly, an extreme circumstance. I don't think it requires a systematic change in how we run our plants or how government inspectors monitor them.”
J. Patrick Boyle, president and chief executive officer of the American Meat Institute, in a conference call with reporters.
(Source: Baltimore Sun, March 3, 2008)

"We specifically did not give this information much in advance to the USDA. If it had been given to USDA in advance and they excused the behavior and shut them down for a half a day or a day … that would have been an unacceptable outcome."
(Source: Meatingplace.com, March 3, 2008)
Wayne Pacelle, HSUS CEO excusing his 4 month lapse of good judgment in an interview with Meatingplace.com.
>PS: He was making a point that his assumption of unacceptable behavior by the USDA excuses actual unacceptable behavior by HSUS.
>PPS: And no one spoke up for thousands of animals that went through the Hallmark plant from October, 2007 until the end of January, 2008.

“Consider again the time frame: the Humane Society investigator began shooting film in early October. If what he saw was really a danger to the food supply, didn’t he and Mr. Pacelle have a responsibility to bring it to the federal government immediately? Instead, the undercover investigator stayed on site for another six weeks. Even then, the federal government didn’t learn of the video until it was leaked to The Post at the end of January — nearly two months later.”
(Source: New York Times, March 8, 2008)
Joe Nocera, questioning the motives behind the delay in Wayne Pacelle’s recent activities.
>PS: His motive, Joe, was simply pandering to the press.

"That's how I was taught. He taught me to do the work. I didn't know it was serious crime.”
(Source: The San Bernardino Sun, March 6, 2008)
Luis Sanchez Herrera in Spanish at the Adelanto Detention Center.
>PS: Daniel Ugarte Navarro, Sanchez Herrera’s supervisor, said the methods he used were taught to him by one of the owners of the company.

"As the CEO of the company with the dubious distinction of being responsible for America's largest meat recall, it is important the committee hear Mr. Mendell's perspective"
(Source: The Press-Enterprise, March 3, 2008)
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, politely saying Hallmark’s president – and one of the owners of the company - will be coerced into testifying.
>PS: The subcommittee held a business meeting Wednesday morning and voted unanimously to authorize a subpoena ordering Mendell to testify at a March 12 hearing titled "Regulatory Failure: Must America Live With Unsafe Food?".

"These phone calls were never returned by Mr. Mendell, his company, or counsel. In the only instance in which committee staff was able to speak with Mr. Mendell, Mr. Mendell told committee staff he would contact the staff later that day with his attorney. Almost two weeks later, the committee is still awaiting his call."
(Source: The Press-Enterprise, March 5,2008)
Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), said at least 15 attempts were made to reach Mendell between Feb. 19 and Feb. 25.
>PS: Stonewalling a congressional committee is NOT a wise PR or legal maneuver. It’s time for Mendell to ‘cowboy up’ and take some responsibility.

"The industry lost billions of dollars because of the mad cow case in 2003 because we had this permissive policy with downers. I am absolutely confounded as to why the industry is prepared to assume this level of risk for the very minimal financial return from slaughtering downers."
(Source: Washington Post. March 9, 2008)
Wayne Pacelle, CEO, HSUS, making a particularly sharp-edged point
>PS: Does risking the good name of a multi-billion dollar industry over a paltry few nickels and dimes make any kind of sense?

“JBS is about to rewrite the history of the U.S. beef processing industry. Arguably, this is the most significant change in beef processing in the U.S., the structure of it, in a hundred years or more.”
(Source: Kansas City Star, March 6, 2008)
Steve Kay, editor of Cattle Buyers Weekly, making a bold statement about the long term effects of a bold move by JBS.
>PS: Adding National and Smithfield to their Swift holdings, JBS is consolidating a North American industry that many think is already over-consolidated. What will the Feds say?

"Time and time again, cattle producers have had to watch helplessly as the multinational meatpackers manipulate the cattle market for their own benefit, and additional concentration among the packers likely will reduce even more the number of cattle operations in the United States,"
(Source: Rapid City Journal, March 5, 2008)
Randy Stevenson, regional director for R-CALF USA, suggesting the organization might contest Department of Justice approval of the JBS purchase.

"I’ve been pressing the Justice Department about consolidation in agriculture, but the department doesn’t appear to think there is a problem. Quite honestly, I don’t know how much longer they can continue to let these mergers slide by. Now producers will only have three major beef packers to sell their livestock to. Is it going to take only one packer in the industry for the Justice Department to say there isn’t competition?"
(Source: MeatPoultry.com, March 6, 2008)
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) expressing concern about the recent JBS buying spree in a letter to Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnett.
>PS: So Mr. Batista thinks his shopping habits won’t create some heartburn on the Hill? Time to hire some of Washington’s best spin meisters.

"We believe consolidation is necessary in beef packing, given only 80 per cent or so utilization with reduced export markets, too much capacity bidding too much for live cattle, therefore depressing packing margins."
(Source: Canadian Press, March 5, 2008)
Eric Katzman, Deutsche Bank-North America analyst, in a note to investors about the JBS purchase.
>PS: Whose margins get depressed now, Mr. Katzman? And when do we have to start discussing monopoly?
>PPS: A lesson from my Econ 101 class, Mr. Katzman: Market control by one or a few is a key source of inefficiency unless you’re just looking at the next quarter’s P & L.

“This is not proprietary information. This is information that is directly engaged in the health and safety of the American people, which we have a responsibility, along with you, to protect.”
(Source: NWA News, March 7, 2008)
Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), telling Richard Raymond, the USDA’s food-safety chief, at a congressional hearing that the House would push ‘very hard’ for a list of outlets that received meat from Hallmark.
>PS: Packers claim the lists are proprietary information.
>PPS: The recall was a Class 2, meaning it wasn’t caused by food safety issues, making it a dodged bullet…so far. Most of the facts are not in.
>PPS: It’s information that should be released on a ‘need to know’ basis and the public needs to know.

“Everyone wants to eat like an American on this globe. But if they do, we’re going to need another two or three globes to grow it all.”
(Source: New York Times, March 9, 2008)
Daniel W. Basse of the AgResource Company, a Chicago agricultural consultancy, warning of ever higher prices for food and hinting at a golden age for farmers.
>PS: Farmers might have to make more trips to the bank to deposit additional income from their grain (and grain-fed) crops.
>PPS: Consumers might have to make more trips to the bank to find money so they can pay their grocery bills.