XII. LEGISLATION IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, we respectfully urge that you approve S. 2218 with the changes we have suggested. S. 2218 would extend the coverage of Federal meat inspection and would make that program the standard for any State system. It is therefore strong, meaningful, and truly protective legislation. S. 2218 would end the traffic in filthy, adulterated, and unfit meat. It would safeguard consumers against making unwitting purchases of bad meat or meat products. It would be a major and significant forward step in aiding the health of all Americans. The consumer has a right to expect such legislation. He has a right to be as fully protected as is legislatively possible against unfit meat. S. 2218 will also protect workers in the industry. Not only will it be a health safeguard for them, but it will open new markets and provide more stability for many of the plants where they are employed. Finally, we believe that S. 2218 will be beneficial to the industry. It is insurance against damage suits. It will help against the unfair competition by those who undersell the market with unwholesome and adulterated meat. The enactment of S. 2218, therefore, is very much in the public interest. Senator BYRD. Thank you, Mr. Schachter. Senator MONDALE. I want to express my appreciation, Mr. Schachter, to you for this statement and to the AMCBW. Mr. SCHACHTER. That is the Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen of America. Senator MONDALE. Which supports my proposal. And for your very useful and characteristic and aggressive approach by your organization to this problem. I think one point you touched on very lightly but which is new to the discussion is the unfair competitive posture that a federally inspected plant is confronted with when it must process and slaughter meat according to high standards and then must compete with a plant outside of the Federal inspection system that can reduce its costs because it can purchase meat that is less wholesome and can slaughter and process that meat into products much less expensively but under more dangerous conditions-can pump its meat full of cheap additives such as water, cereals, and the like, and then can disguise the unsatisfactory meat or its products through mislabeling and through other kinds of devices, such as coloring as we have heard this morning, such as ascorbate, so that the consumer is defenseless in determining the best buy, that is, the best quality product put out by the federally inspected plant which it has had to produce at more cost and against this less costly and more dangerous product of less quality produced by its competitor outside of the reach of those same high standards. As a person who has spent a great deal of time in trade regulations, I have always thought that one of the first principles of trade regulation was that they be uniform. If we are going to establish high standards, it ought to be a standard that applies to everybody competing in that market; otherwise, you are going to be penalizing the ethical competitor and you will be profiting the other who is not ethical. I think the point you make is well made and is basic to fairness in trade regulations. Mr. SCHACHTER. There is no question about it. Senator MONDALE. Quite apart from the problem of what I would urge to be the uncompromised objective of wholesome meat. And for both reasons, as well as others, I appreciate your testimony and the position of your organization. Now, Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions, but I would like to include in the record at this point the position taken by the Minnesota Meat Advisory Board communicated to me by a telegram from Mr. Ray Schweigert, chairman of the Minnesota Meat Advisory Board, supporting the House-passed measure with Montoya amendment, but calling for a 4-year term period. Senator BYRD. The communication will be received and made a part of the official record at this point. (The telegram referred to follows:) Senator WALTER F. MONDALE, Old Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C.: ST. PAUL, MINN., November 9, 1967. Meat Advisory Board of the State of Minnesota consisting of 22 members of the State meat slaughtering and processing industry, respectfully urges that you support S. 2147. We would also unanimously support the amendment of Senator MONTOYA that would impose Federal inspection of any State which did not adopt a satisfactory meat inspection program within a reasonable length of time. We further urge that a reasonable length of time be considered to be 4 years. Our position with biannual Minnesota legislative sessions make it necessary to have 4 years grace so that we can embark on mandatory inspection on a graduated basis without attempting a crash program which we think would be inefficient and ineffectual. RAY SCHWEIGERT, Chairman, Minnesota Meat Advisory Board. Senator BYRD. Thank you, Mr. Schachter. STATEMENT OF ARNOLD MAYER, LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIVE, AMALGAMATED MEATCUTTERS & BUTCHER WORKMEN OF NORTH AMERICA, AFL-CIO Mr. MAYER. Before we go, Mr. Chairman, may I add one point? In all fairness to Senator Montoya we must say that since this testimony was prepared, Senator Montoya has introduced an amendment which improves his bill beyond what this statement says. There are still problems with the Montoya amendment, but, as we understood from the interchange between Senator Montoya and Mr. Nader, the Senator is still working on improvements in his amendment. We did want to make the point that since this testimony has been prepared the Montoya bill has been somewhat changed and somewhat improved. Senator BYRD. Thank you, sir. The next witness will be Mr. Leslie Orear, legislative representative of the United Packinghouse Food & Allied Workers, AFL-CIO. We will be glad to hear from you now. STATEMENT OF LESLIE OREAR, DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS, UNITED PACKINGHOUSE FOOD & ALLIED WORKERS, AFL-CIO Mr. OREAR. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, a slight correction, Mr. Chairman. I am the director of publications of that organization. This is testimony on behalf of Mr. Ralph Helstein, president of the United Packinghouse Food & Allied Workers, as it is his statement which I will present. We appreciate this opportunity to express our views on the bill by Senator Mondale which would strengthen the Federal meat inspection law. The Congress has now within its grasp the opportunity to perform corrective surgery that will repair a serious deformity in the structure of the Nation's meat inspection system. On the other hand, there is already a grave danger that through lack of understanding or a reluctance to move firmly, the patient will remain crippled because of the failure of congressional surgeons to undertake the essential procedure. We assure the committee that an effective response from the Congress will be both expected and appreciated by the housewives of the Nation. The annual meeting of the American Meat Institute last September was told by the women's page editor of the Globe Democrat of St. Louis that she had received 1,379 letters and 229 telephone calls from anxious housewives who had read an account of the findings in the USDA survey of nonfederally inspected plants around the St. Louis area. The speaker said she had no way of knowing how many people tried to reach her by phone; she did know only that she managed to answer the phone 229 times. If Congress hangs up on the American housewife in this instance, it will be regrettable indeed. We of the UPWA have long been interested in this problem of meat inspection, and have done our best to focus legislative and public attention on a problem which those close to the industry, like ourselves, know is growing in magnitude and malignancy. Shortly after the Clarkson report on conditions in the intrastate sector of the industry was released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in January 1963, our international executive board adopted a resolution in full support of the meat inspection bill offered at that time by Representative Neal Smith in the House. In the years that have transpired since 1963 this has been the first session of Congress at which hearings on a meat inspection amendment have been held in either House. While we are happy that there has at last been movement on this question, so vital to the Nation's health, we are mindful that while Congress was ignoring the issue a scandal of immense proportions took place linking a prominent and respected New York City meatpacker with smuggled meat from noninspected and pet food sources. The guilty, including the company's executives, have been sentenced by the courts. The company has gone bankrupt. Five hundred workers lost their jobs. This is only the most prominent of numerous criminal acts involving nonfederally inspected meat illegally entering interstate commerce that have taken place while Representative Smith's perennial inspection bill languished in committee. I am presenting to the committee an exhibit consisting of clippings taken from our own union newspaper, The Packinghouse Worker, reporting over a dozen of these cases that have come to our notice. (The clippings referred to follow :) [Excerpts from the Packinghouse Worker] APRIL 1965 MOVES TO STOP TRAFFIC IN IMPURE MEAT WASHINGTON.-The Agriculture Department is moving to plug up the loopholes in its meat inspection program. Secretary Orville L. Freeman announced that investigation and detection procedures aimed at traffic in unwholesome meat and the counterfeiting of the Meat Inspection Division stamp are being undertaken. A task force under assistant secretary George L. Mehren is also preparing a new meat inspection bill for presentation to Congress. It will probably call for widening the jurisdiction of the MID to include manufacture of products sold within state boundaries. Freeman said the MID is developing "new techniques and working relationships geared to changing conditions in the meat industry." The MID is determined, Freeman said, "to protect the nation's meat supply against those who, by criminal intent, seek to pollute it. We will apply every reasonable statutory and operational safeguard to prevent fraud or deception.” The stiffening of MID controls follows a scandal in New York City involving large scale smuggling of horsemeat for use in sausage and other prepared meat products. The meat was labelled "boneless beef" and bore counterfeit MID inspection stamps. The company, Merkel, Inc. of Jamaica, L.I., was forced out of business as a result of public exposure. APRIL 1966 TAINTED MEAT DEAL BRINGS STIFF FINES TO COLORADANS WASHINGTON.-Two men who pleaded guilty to charges of transporting tainted meat from dead and diseased animals across state lines were fined and given suspended sentences for violating the federal Meat Inspection Act. Lee W. Merrick, former owner of Lee Bi-Products Co., Greeley, Colo., and Glenda Joe Wilson, a former foreman at that firm, were each fined $5,000 and given a 2-year suspended prison sentence. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's Consumer and Marketing Service alleged that Merrick and Wilson shipped 4.400 lbs. of boneless meat that had not been federally inspected from Greeley to Cheyenne, Wyo. It was intended for human consumption. Had these men confined their activities within the borders of a state, they might still be collecting profits from adulterated meat because the Meat Inspection Act provides that all meat crossing state lines must be federally inspected. It does not say that meat slaughtered and consumed within the borders of a state must be inspected for purity and wholesomeness. If the transaction had not crossed state lines it might not have been uncovered. Under present law federal agents watch only interstate movement of meat. APRIL, 1966 CHARGES LIFT LID ON MERKEL SCANDAL NEW YORK.-Four new indictments have been filed in the year-old Merkel horsemeat scandal by the Federal grand jury. The indictments cover nine meat shipments of about 40,000 pounds each, most of which ended up at the Merkel plant in Jamaica. The new defendants are: Thomas C. Barr, owner of Tom Barr Mink Ranch, charged with transporting four shipments of uninspected meat from Wisconsin to New York. Robert Dvorin, president of Eastern Packing Co. charged with shipping uninspected meat and 16,000 pounds of unmarked horsemeat from Linden, N.J., to New York. Charles Anselmo, meat broker, accused of shipping uninspected and unlabeled horsemeat from Wisconsin to New York through Boston. He is also charged with forging Department of Agriculture meat labels. Orland Lea, officer of Lea Brothers Corp., accused of shipping unlabeled horsemeat and uninspected meat from Wisconsin to New York and Boston. Furthermore, Robert Wilson, a suspended Federal meat inspector, charged last May with receiving illegal payments, now is accused of receiving a total of $1,150 from Norman Lokietz, president of Merkel. The Merkel scandal broke in December, 1964 with the seizure of tainted meat at the Merkel plant. The firm soon went out of business in the face of scores of indictments. MAY, 1966 SELL HORSE MEAT-SEVEN ACCUSED IN MID SCANDAL PITTSBURGH.-Seven men accused of repacking more than 10 million lbs. of imported horse meat and selling it to processors as boneless beef during 19621964 were indicted by a federal grand jury here. According to the indictment the defendants obtained horse meat from Mexico and other sources, repackaged it in Pennsylvania and then sold it as boneless beef to processors in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The men made an estimated profit of $1 million, netting 10 cents to 12 cents a pound, said U.S. Assistant Attorney Stanley Greenfield. Six men were named defendants in one 23-count indictment charging them with conspiracy, fraud by wire and violations of the Horse Meat Act and the Meat Inspection Act. The seventh man was charged with conspiracy, fraud by wire and violations of the Horse Meat Act in a separate 14-count indictment. Officials granted another coconspirator immunity from prosecution to obtain his testimony in the case. OCTOBER 1966 SOLD TO HUMANS-GUILTY VERDICT ON HORSEMEAT PITTSBURGH, PA.-Three men were found guilty in federal court here of illicitly selling horsemeat for human consumption, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) reports. The case involved several million pounds of horsemeat, which was obtained from Mexico and other sources during the years of 1962, 1963, and 1964, and was repackaged as frozen boneless beef. Through the use of counterfeit government inspection marks and false labeling, the horsemeat was sold to various processors in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland as frozen boneless beef. While some shipments of the horsemeat were seized by federal and local officials in Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Baltimore late in 1963 and early 1964, substantial quantities of the horsemeat reached the consumer in the form of processed meat products such as frankfurters and sausage. Meat inspectors in USDA's Consumer and Marketing Service first detected the illicit movement of horsemeat, Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman ex |