October 14, 2002
What is heck is "listeria"?
Story via Yahoo about the massive meat recall by Pilgrim's Pride, and of the Bush administration's role in allowing the meat industry to continue to ship dangerous products, that are widely known to be killing people.
"The Pilgrim's Pride record recall of 27.4 million pounds was prompted by a USDA investigation into a listeria outbreak that has caused at least 23 deaths, three miscarriages and 120 illnesses in the U.S. Northeast. The company and USDA have said no illnesses could be linked to the recall."
Makes you wonder which side the USDA is on. All blame can't fall on the Republicans though. This was a recall of chicken and turkey products, Pilgrim's Pride being the second largest shipper of these after Tyson Foods, headquartered in Arkansas, and Bill Clinton's long-time number one corporate supporter. Not surprising that they would deny the deaths and illnesses. More people in the US die every year from salmonella and e-coli than died on 911, yet it's hardly ever reported or discussed. Chicken "strips", "nuggets" and such have skyrocketed during the 90s, along with warning labels on chicken, and countless cases of disease. But I haven't heard of listeria before.
I wonder what the reaction would be if it was reported that terrorists had poisoned 20-something million pounds of meat?
