Contaminated Meat a "Growing Concern"
This is how bad it's getting with meat contamination and food safety:
According to a story by Peter Eisler in USA Today, Mexican authorities in 2008 rejected a U.S. beef shipment because its copper levels exceeded Mexican standards.
Now, because there is no U.S. limit for copper and other harmful residues in beef, the USDA had no grounds for blocking the beef's producer from reselling the rejected meat in the United States.That tidbit was found in an audit by the USDA's Office of Inspector General ripping the government for not setting limits on pesticides, veterinary antibiotics and heavy metals in meat being sold to the public.
The audit found that limits have not been set by the EPA and FDA "for many potentially harmful substances, which can impair FSIS' enforcement activities.''
The health effects on people who eat such meat are a "growing concern," the audit adds.
FSIS stands for Food Safety and Inspection Service, the USDA agency in charge of keeping E. coli O157:H7 and other dangerous human pathogens out of the meat supply.
