09-30-2005, 03:48 AM
|
#40 (permalink)
|
|
Devoted
Donor
Location: New England
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Cynthetiq
a story going around food stores being sent by europeans being sent back as unfit for human consumption ( i have to corroborate that story as an inbox hoax)
|
Not entirely false: I think that is based on the article <a href="http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/living/health/12704999.htm">British rations held over made cow fears</a>:
Quote:
Wed, Sep. 21, 2005
Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, Ark. - British ready-to-eat meals donated for Hurricane Katrina victims are stuck on shelves at an air base in Arkansas because of strict U.S. regulations put in place after a mad cow disease scare.
Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, which has been the hub for all international Katrina aid, has received 1,842 tons of goods from dozens of countries since the hurricane hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29.
The meals containing British meat cannot be used because U.S. regulations prohibit the importation of British beef and poultry. The prohibition was put in place after the degenerative disease that affects the central nervous system was found in British cattle. A human form of the disease can be deadly.
"We have an obligation to hold the food we're distributing to evacuees to the same standards we maintain for all Americans on a daily basis," U.S. Agriculture Department spokeswoman Terri Teuber said Tuesday. "We are not saying these MREs are unfit or unsafe. We're saying they don't meet the importation standards, and they are being set aside."
It was unknown what would happen to the meat products in the British MREs, Teuber said.
She said the number of British meals involved was not available and that some of the MREs without meat were distributed.
She also said officials were looking for ways to use other British food and goods that have made their way to the Gulf Coast.
"We are grateful for the donations, and they are being put to very good use," Teuber said.
In all, some 400,000 MREs have been donated by foreign countries, said Army Major Paul Swiergosz, a Defense Department spokesman.
|
__________________
I can't read your signature. Sorry.
|
|
|