Free Roaming Red Angus (© Photographer: Caroline Klapper | Agency: Dreamstime.com)

If you needed another reason to only eat organically raised beef, a California meat company has issued the largest beef recall in history, 143 million pounds. Much of the suspect meat has already made its way into school lunch programs and been consumed by children.

Reports indicate that cows at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company were so sick they could not walk, which can be an indicator of mad cow disease. The Humane Society of the United States has distributed undercover footage of workers at the factory farm kicking sick cows and using forklifts to force them to walk. Federal law bans cows that can’t walk from the food supply.

Government officials have said this is an isolated incident and mad cow disease is extremely rare, but there were 21 recalls of beef related to potentially deadly E. coli last year, compared with 8 in 2006 and 5 in 2005. The recall on Sunday by Westland/Hallmark was more than four times bigger than the previous record.

Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, has stated:

Long term, however, the federal government must step up and meet its responsibility for assuring both the integrity of food and the humane treatment of animals at all slaughter plants. A recall of this staggering scale proves that it's past time for Congress and the USDA to strengthen our laws for the sake of people and animals.

To read an article from Bloomberg.com on the recall go to: Westland/Hallmark Recalls Record Amount of U.S. Beef (Update4)

If you’d like to purchase the safest & finest Red Angus Organic Beef we’ve been able to find click on any of the following:
Organic Red Angus New York Strip Steaks
Organic Red Angus Rib Eye Steaks
Organic Red Angus Tenderloin Steaks

To view previous posts on the topic go to:
1. USDA Bans Cloned Animals from Organic Livestock
2. Paying More to Eat Well & Stay Safe
3. Organic Dairy & Meat Improves Mothers' Breast Milk
4. Damar Farms: Raising Red Angus Organically