Question

Novelist Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle in 1906 to describe the deplorable and unsanitary conditions in the meat packing industry in Chicago. In the absence of government regulations and USDA inspections of beef, what would keep franchise restaurants like McDonalds and Burger King from selling tainted beef to their customers?

Answer 1

SOLUTION

TAINTED BEEF TO CUSTOMERS

The U.S department of Agriculture ( USDA's ) food safety and inspection service (FSIS) must inspect most meat, poultry, and processed egg products for safety, wholesomeness, and labeling. Federal inspectors of their state counterparts are present at all the times in virtually all slaughter plants and foratleast part of each day in establishments that futher process meat and poultry products. Debate has ensued for decades over whether this system, first designed in the early 1900s, has kept pace with changes in the food production and ut marketing industries.

Miami based Burger King and Mc Donalds at first insisted its patties were produced on a line that was totally separate from the one that produced the contaminated patties. Futher, Burger King said it has recalled all beef products it bought from Hudson from its distribution network and its restaurants. About 25 percent of Burger King and Mc Donalds restaurants, mostly west of Mnissisippi river, get their beef from Hudson and those stores may be burger-less for the next day.

The Hudson brand of frozen beef patties in stores can be identified by the establishment number 13569 printed inside the USDA inspection seal. The fact that the processor marketing to such a broad customer base could be linked to E.coli and at first greatly underestimate the quandity at risk-puts the spotlight once again on the perils in the country's food supply and the problems the USDA has in regulating it.Still, it took two years for the USDA to unrevil new rules for inspection, replacing regulations that had been in effect since 1906. But though the department's food safety inspection service now requires plants to have testing systems and controls in place, its enforcement powers are feeble.