Chairmen of house committee states" USDA so completely failed to do its job"

USDA SHOULD IMPROVE PROCEDURES FOR HELPINGSCHOOLS MANAGE FOOD RECALLS, WITNESSES TELL HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEEUS Fed NewsWASHINGTON Source of Article: http://www.meatpoultry.com/The House Education & Labor Committee issued the following news release:The U.S. Department of Agriculture did not provide adequate support to help school districts track, handle, and dispose of tainted beef in the wake of the largest meat recall in U.S. history, witnesses told the House Education and Labor Committee today.The USDA issued the recall last month after a U.S. Humane Society investigation revealed that meat from non-ambulatory (or "downer") cows at a California meatpacking company had been allowed to enter the food supply. Federal law prohibits meat from downer cows from entering the food supply because it poses a greater risk of salmonella and e.coli contamination and mad cow disease. More than a third of the tainted meat - more than 50 million pounds - had gone to federal nutrition programs, including to schools."This incident raises very alarming questions about the U.S. Department of Agriculture's ability to monitor the safety of meat in this country - including the meat that is being served to children in the National School Lunch program," said U.S. Rep George Miller, the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. "Schools and parents should have every assurance that the food supplied to their kids' cafeterias by the federal government is safe. It is unacceptable that the USDA so completely failed to do its job."