USDA orders that two hamburgers for every man, woman and child in the USA be recalled

SHOOT: That's quite a lot of slaughtered cattle for nothing, 143 million tons (roughly 143 million cattle) and quite a lot of cattle now have got to be slaughtered to replace the throwaway offal. This sort of chronic waste of life and food is utterly revolting.

clipped from edition.cnn.com (CNN) -- A slaughterhouse that has been accused of mistreating cows agreed Sunday to recall 143 million pounds of beef in what federal officials called the largest beef recall in U.S. history. But Dick Raymond, the undersecretary of agriculture for food safety, said there was a "remote probability" that the meat from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Company in Chino, California, could cause illness in humans. The amount of beef -- 143 million pounds -- is roughly enough for two hamburgers for each man, woman and child in the United States. The largest U.S. meat recall before Sunday came in 1999, when about 35 million pounds of product possibly contaminated with listeria were ordered off shelves. USDA officials said that was Class I recall, involving a known risk to human health. Sunday's action was a Class II recall, under which authorities say there is little risk of illness.