At least 10,000 food distributors sold recalled meat that came from the Hallmark slaughterhouse in Chino, California, and it could still be on store shelves. But Richard Raymond, USDA undersecretary for food safety, told an astonished House Appropriations Committee panel that which retailers were sent the meant is “proprietary” information that would not be released.
Trade groups like the American Meat Institute, Food Marketing Institute and Grocery Manufacturers Association argued that naming names would “confuse” people. The Bush Administration also opposes publicizing retailers’ names in meat recalls.
Shield laws have often protected meat industry profits at the price of public health, including during mad cow scares. Shield laws protected the identities of Texas and Alabama ranches that produced beef tainted with mad cow disease in 2004 and 2006, and the identities of 11 restaurants in California that served meat from a confirmed mad cow in late 2003.