Buy American Beef ! . . .. . in Japan

Oops ! We sent a bad lot of beef to Japan on Friday and all Hell has broken loose.

Well, it wasn't so bad, not a food safety issue according to a statement from U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns (you see, this went right to the top right now !). The cows that were the source of the beef were too young to have developed Mad Cow. But the shipment did contain "vertebral material" in violation of our agreement with the Japanese.

So: (a) the Japanese put a hold on the beef, (b) the plant that sent it loses its certification to export beef, (c) the inspector who signed off on the shipment will be disciplined, (d) a special team of inspectors is enroute to Japan to assist the Japanese inspectors, (e) additional inspections will be required at all "export certified" processing plants, (f) all export shipments will now require two qualified inspectors to sign off on the inspection, plus plus plus. All of this TODAY behind a problem that happened TODAY.

Except for having Secretary Johanns commit seppuku, it looks like we've done all we can.

Now, about that headline. If you think the beef you eat is getting the kind of attention that U.S. beef bound for Japan is getting, we invite you to have one more think.

Eat American, range fed, organic beef and

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