PLEASE COOPERATE? PRETTY PLEASE?

"U.S. consumers would not benefit from knowing which grocery stores, restaurants and butchers stocked meat products potentially contaminated with deadly bacteria, the top U.S. Agriculture Department food safety official said on Wednesday." In other news, up is down and down is up. Listen to this: "Elsa Murano told a House subcommittee that consumers would not benefit because companies send meat to places other than grocery stores and restaurants." Oh, OK. Right. That makes about as much sense as does eating this crap - or as this one: "Murano said companies would not be as cooperative if they were forced to share information." Oh, they wouldn't be cooperative, huh? Well, then why not SHUT THEM THE HELL DOWN IMMEDIATELY? No cooperative, no operative. I mean, what other industry could get away with this food-supply terrorism? Well, it's all ridiculous fun and games till you have another large recall of meat with excessive feces - aka e.coli. And even then all the crap can be kind of smirkworthy till you find out it may already have sent children to the hospital with the excruciating illness.

EDITORIAL 3/19: "The U.S. Department of Agriculture is supposed to protect American consumers from tainted meat. Instead, it appears to be more interested in protecting irresponsible meat processing companies. ...(their) attitude should make American consumers wonder whose side the Agriculture Department is on." (St. Petersburg Times)