In the wake of the largest beef recall in American history, the beef industry is stepping up to show how much they care about you: sure, they say, the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. was stupid enough to get caught on video adding downer cattle to the food supply, but why punish other vendors for simply mixing downer beef in with their quality products?

That's right, beef companies who sell blends of ground beef from different slaughterhouses were lobbying the government to keep their products on the market, because, well, they were only kind of illegal. That's like saying that the beef only has some poop in it, so it's mostly good. Oh wait, Beef Inc already says that (why do you think they keep saying you need to cook beef thoroughly?)

To their credit, the USDA seems to have held its ground and maintained that all affected beef will be recalled, but watch for another crack in the food safety system that's going to grow over time. Better still, watch it from over here in the vegetables aisle.