Where's the beef?

Undercover footage of cattle being mistreated at a California meat-processing plant has led to calls for tougher regulation of the industry. I've posted some details over at Political Climate:

For animal rights activists, the videos were a propaganda coup to make Peter Singer proud, guaranteed to push at least a few queasy carnivores into vegetarianism. But it didn’t stop there: This week, the plant was forced to issue America’s largest-ever beef recall, admitting that over 143 million pounds of meat had been produced in violation of Agriculture Department regulations.

It emerged that for at least two years plant workers had ignored rules intended to prevent the spread of Mad Cow Disease, slaughtering ailing cattle - known in the trade as “downers” - and processing them for human consumption. That’s illegal and dangerous - and the recall doesn’t help much, since the affected beef has probably already been eaten.

More here.