SERIOUS LISTERIA MYSTERY TWISTS

Just when you thought that all parties had come clean and were ready to move on with their lives, Wampler now denies its meat caused any problems for anybody in the massive Northeast outbreak of listeria. Well, sure, they want to have the strongest case against the inevitable lawsuits - but guess what? Our old friend the USDA is backing them up, contradicting the evidence gathered by themselves and the CDC. It was the latter who established the eating patterns and matched the samples that clearly fingered this plant, but the USDA apparently can't give up their role as official PR firm for the meat industry. Wampler is also disputing charges from an anonymous inspector who said USDA officials "told the inspection team they could no longer touch the carcasses of the birds when checking them for abnormalities that could indicate they were contaminated. In another e-mail, the anonymous inspector noted that salmonella tests at the plant stopped months ago. Listeria also is prevalent 'in the chiller at our plant,' the inspector wrote." But now the AP says the inspector didn't work at the Philly-area plant, but at another Wampler plant! Oh, OK. What a relief. I'm sure that listeria is not one of the dangerous strains.