MEAT FACTS IS OFF -- WAYYYY OFF!

Off on vacation, that is, as of tomorrow morning. So sit tight for a week or two and we'll see what "piles" up in the meantime.

'HAMBURGER MEAT IS A TOXIC SUBSTANCE'

This observation comes from the St. Petersburg Times, which notes in yesterday's editorial that while irradiaton is being pushed as The Answer to fecal contamination, the solution is really "for Congress to force the meat industry to clean up its act, and its product. And it would be better for the meat industry to stop fighting such reforms if it wants to retain any credibility." Meanwhile, over at USA Today, an Op-Ed by Joan Claybrook puts it more succinctly: "People do not want to eat meat contaminated with fecal matter -- even if it has been irradiated."

CONAGRA: LET THEM EAT FECES

It's hard to say which is more amazing - the incompetence of the USDA or the arrogance of Conagra (and its ilk). Even while House and Senate Democrats are grandstanding about the USDA's ridiculous 100-day delay in issuing a recall, the Chicago Tribune reports that ConAgra won't give samples of the E.Coli strain on the beef in question to THE CDC, so the government agency can do its job of tracking who's getting sick from this stuff. No siree, that's "private property!" (Reminds me of "Salmonella's good for you! from 7/13.) What other industry could get away with such blatant, anti-consumer, criminal stonewalling? This makes Bill Gates look like a damn teddy bear! If this aspect of the story gets picked up at all, it could give this whole issue legs like it never had before. And the people who are slapping their knees over the first "fast-food lawsuit" will perhaps realize it's not so funny when someone refuses to tell you what kind of poison they've put in your food.