U.S.

Meat Scandal At Sara Lee

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

August 30, 2001 / 10:28 AM EDT / CBS

Managers at Sara Lee's Bil Mar plant in Michigan knew they were shipping tainted meat later linked to 15 deaths, CBS News Correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports. And they may also have tried to cover it up.

A federal meat inspector told agriculture department investigators that Bil Mar managers were aware the plant had increased levels of listeria about eight months before the nationwide listeriosis outbreak that began in the fall of 1998.

Management intentionally "skirted the law" and shipped meats without testing them, the inspector said.

According to statements given to federal investigators and obtained by CBS News, employees who discussed the problem were told "loose tongues sink ships."

Ground Beef Recalled

IBP, the nation's biggest beef processor, is recalling 500,000 pounds of ground beef from 35 states and the District of Columbia that may be contaminated with the deadly bacteria E. coli O157:H7.

In addition to killing at least 15 people, the outbreak caused six miscarriages and seriously sickened 80 others. It prompted Sara Lee to announce the recall of 15 million pounds of meat in December 1998; the Agriculture Department said the recall eventually grew to 35 million pounds.

However, federal prosecutors determined that the government "uncovered no evidence that Sara Lee intentionally distributed" tainted meat. That was among the reasons given by U.S. Attorney Phillip Green when he agreed to let Bil Mar plead guilty in June to one federal charge of preparing and selling "adulterated poultry and meat products."

As part of that plea, Sara Lee agreed to pay a fine of $200,000 and spend $3 million on food safety research at Michigan State University. The company also agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit linked to the sale of meat to the Department of Defense in 1998.

An employee of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service assigned to the Bil Mar plant told investigators that workers became aware of a listeria problem in December 1997.

The USDA inspector told a Bil Mar employee at the time that the plant risked getting in trouble if it shipped contaminated foods, according to the investigators.

The Bil Mar worker replied: "They would never know it was our product since it (listeria) has about a two-week incubation period," the report said.

A former Bl Mar employee told investigators that plant management instructed laboratory technicians to test only for conditions that best promote the growth of Listeria monocytogenes, but not for the actual presence of the bacterium.

Workers were also told to keep lab test results in a special file "that was to be withheld from the USDA," the report said.

Green, the U.S. attorney for western Michigan, said in June that the combination of criminal and civil penalties against Sara Lee was appropriate considering the company's actions.

Now consumer groups are demanding congressional action.

"He was supposed to be protecting the American public and instead the corporation got all of the protection and a little slap on the wrist," said Nancy Donley, president, Safe Tables Our Priority.

Chicago attorney Kenneth Moll recently settled a class action lawsuit against Sara Lee. According to him, "This new evidence clearly sheds light that Sara Lee knew about a problem and could have prevented these deaths."

Moll says he may ask a federal judge to rescind the settlement. Sara Lee will likely contest that, telling CBS News, "The federal government has said, and we concur, that we did not knowingly distribute meat products that contained listeria."

The U.S. Justice Department said it investigated every allegation raised by the USDA and couldn't substantiate any of them, but the Agriculture Department continues to stand by its report.

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