Dear Editor:
Last week, a US Court of Appeals blocked USDA’s ability to shut down a major ground beef supplier for the school lunch program for repeated violations of the Salmonella standard. The company was supported by the National Meat Association, which claimed that “Salmonella is not dangerous, if the meat is cooked properly.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Salmonella sickens 2-4 million Americans annually and kills up to a thousand.
Then, this week, the Justice Department indicted Tyson Foods, the nation’s largest chicken processor, for smuggling 2,000 undocumented workers to work in its 57 plants. Just how hard would it to be for an al Qaeda operative to join that crowd and drop some anthrax spores in the vat?
But why worry about al Qaeda, when we have our own meat industry to contend with?
Hugh Reilly