This is an OZY Special Briefing, an extension of the Presidential Daily Brief. The Special Briefing tells you what you need to know about an important issue, individual or story that is making news. Each one serves up an interesting selection of facts, opinions, images and videos in order to catch you up and vault you ahead. WHAT TO KNOW What happened? After 57 people in 16 states were sickened by beef thought to be contaminated with a salmonella strain this week, the Tolleson meat company in Arizona recalled 6.5 million pounds of raw beef. That includes hundreds of products marked with “EST. 267” inside the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection mark, and it constitutes the biggest recall in several years. But beef wasn’t the only food to be recalled: In the past week, 89,000 pounds of ham were recalled due to listeria after one person died. And an egg-borne salmonella outbreak grew, with 24 more cases across five states despite last month’s recall of contaminated eggs from Alabama’s Gravel Ridge Farms. Why does it matter? This year has seen a spike in food recalls, and that could lead to even more regulations aimed at protecting consumers from shoddy factory and food production practices. Tolleson was called out by federal regulators last year for "egregious" and "inhumane" livestock conditions. Last month, the USDA issued draft rules that could see future recalls routinely name not just the food’s manufacturer but also the retailers that might sell the tainted products, in an attempt to better protect the public. This is occasionally done already but isn’t yet common practice. |