Time for Some "Hard Time"?

Been there, done that. It’s dejà vu all over again. Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it.

Have any of you had these catch phrases running through your head since the news broke last month about the beef recall involving Westland/Hallmark Meat Company of Chino, CA?

This, the largest recall in USDA history, is still reverberating through the various supply chains and distribution channels of our industry, as we track down each product that may contain meat processed by the company during the time period when cattle unable to walk were filmed supposedly being dragged to slaughter.

While the events that led to the recall are, as I understand it, at least two years old, and most of the product has probably been consumed (with no reports of any illnesses to date), three factors point to a long life for this latest black eye on our industry. First, much of the product in question found its way into our school lunch programs. Second, the product was used extensively in many further-processed shelf-stable products such as soups, sauces and microwaveable dinners. And third, our industry has a miserable record of self-inflicted wounds.

How many recalls will it take for our industry to realize its overriding responsibility to "follow the rules," or will we keep going in a business-as-usual manner, moving us ever closer to losing many of our self-policing powers?

So far, most recalls have resulted in some heavy fines, as well as serious economic impacts, including bankruptcy and/or the forced sale or closing of the companies involved, which has put many people out of work. But, even those things don’t seem to have gotten the message across. Kind of reminds me of the movie, "Groundhog Day," where Bill Murray wakes up every morning to find he is living the same day over and over.

Perhaps the solution is to prosecute those responsible, from the people in the plants who knowingly break the rules, all the way up the company structure to the top executive level where the responsibility ultimately lies.

Perhaps it’s time for some hard time.