Author: Video ‘peels back the curtain' on food prep
February 20, 2008
Newsweek: Michael Pollan doesn't blame workers at the Chino, Calif.-based Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. for the conditions that led to the nation's largest beef recall in history. Instead, the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma: Searching for the Perfect Meal in a Fast-Food World" blames the mass-production system of slaughter, which produces mistakes along with millions of pounds of beef.
Pollan, who visited feedlots and slaughterhouses for his 2006 book, calls the undercover video that sparked the investigation "one of those episodes that peels back the curtain on how our food is prepared." He advises concerned meat-eaters to seek out small producers and suggests that slaughterhouses could avoid similar episodes by significantly slowing down production.