Downed cows probably in food

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2008 | by Julie Schmit

Meat from cows that were illegally slaughtered at a California slaughterhouse probably entered the U.S. food supply, a senior U.S. Department of Agriculture official testified at a congressional hearing Wednesday.

The number of cows is unknown but probably exceeded the two shown in videos taken by an undercover animal-rights worker at the Westland/Hallmark Meat plant, which last month recalled 143 million pounds of beef, the largest meat recall ever, said Richard Raymond, the USDA's undersecretary of food safety.

The beef poses only a "remote" health risk to consumers, the USDA has repeatedly said, and no illnesses have been reported.

But members of Congress noted that it can take more than a decade for humans to develop symptoms of the fatal brain...