French meat boss on hunger strike over hygiene

By Greg Frost
 

PARIS, June 6 (Reuters) - The manager of a meat rendering plant fired for
criticising hygiene conditions has gone on hunger strike to draw attention to
what he says is an endemic problem in France.

Francis Doussal was sacked after 28 years' service in the Siffda carcass
rendering plant in the western town of Guer last month after writing an
article for a local newspaper denouncing conditions there, his wife said on
Wednesday.

Doussal began his hunger strike on May 28. His wife said he had lost six kg
(13 lbs), but planned to remain on a diet of water, sugar and salt until the
government put someone in charge of the problems at processing plants across
the country.

"I hope the government makes a decision soon before his health worsens,"
Marie-Isabelle Doussal said in an interview from her home.

Doussal's article and a video cassette made at the plant with his consent
documented some of the more unpalatable problems facing the French rendering
industry.

Rendering plants chop up and cook animal carcasses so they can be used to
make meat-and-bone meal and other by-products, or destroy them altogether
where necessary.

Mrs Doussal said her husband had described how the plant, which is authorised
to handle 200 tonnes of carcasses each day, was being forced to take on twice
as much.

"These animal carcasses need to be picked up within 24 hours and cooked
within 48 hours at the latest. But sometimes they are cooked after five
days," she said, adding that rotting carcasses were sometimes kept in the
plant's yard.

"You can imagine that these animals, which decompose rapidly, begin to give
off juices, and these do not often go into the proper channels," she said.

An official at the plant acknowledged that over the past three years there
had been "two or three incidents" related to stocking carcasses and
processing the juices, but he said most of Doussal's allegations were false.

Experts say consolidation in the French meat rendering sector has left it
unprepared for the side-effects of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (BSE).

When one animal is found to be infected with BSE, the entire herd is
slaughtered and the carcasses need to be appropriately disposed of, so the
rise in the number of cases of the fatal, brain-wasting illness has strained
the capacity of the plants.

"The situation facing the rendering industry is a catastrophe," said meat
industry analyst Maurice Raison.

He said the French rendering system had reached saturation.

"The state has not yet taken all the decisions to allow the rendering system
to function properly, and therefore certain rules are going by the wayside."

12:26 06-06-01

Conclusion, (unconscious) fact:  When you purchase 1 pound of finished meat, 2 to 3 more pounds of hide, bone, fat, trim and entrails must be disposed of or found use. This disposal process burdens the water, land fills, the environment, you and your children's bodies and their future!
-- You are the solution:  You can choose to stop the slaughter! It occurs with your market demand! -- Your appetite and your money is the driving force! The industry simply exists to fill your orders -- and receive your money for it! Just change your order! tlr