1993_02 Insight February 1993

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Page 8
February 24,1993
Tainted beef, supplier
practices may be linked
♦ Cooking time may
not be factor with
rare bacterial strain.
By Deborah Miller
Staff Writer
The recent outbreak ofE.coli-taintcd
beef that vUifiedJack-In-The-Boxand
its suppliers has sparked a fury of
speculation and debate over the source
of the contamination.
It has also raised questions as to
whether increased cooking times and
temperatures by the once-popular fast
food chain could have killed the bacterial strain before it killed two children in the Pacific Northwest
"In my opinion, Jack-in-the-Box is
a victim rather than aculprit," said Dr.
John Jacobs, CSUF Professor of Animal Science.
According to Jacobs, the real villain
is Ihe processing plant from which
Jack-in-the-Box bought the tainted
beef.
"They can only work with what
they get shipped to them.
Jacobs said the chief consumer health
risk lies in Ihe way the carcass is
handled in the slaughterhouse, or "kill
floor."
"If a plant is not inspected properly
and workers get sloppy, you can get
contamination from manure on the
floor, mud—especially this time of
year, hide and hair."
Jacobs explained that a cow's body
tcmpcratJireisaboutl02degreesFahr-
enhcit after being killed, or "terminated."
The carcass is then thoroughly
washed and "shrouded", a process in
which a clean while cloth soaked in
hot salt water is placed on the carcass
to reduce its temperature and kill surface bacteria.
The carcass is then chilled, dropping the temperature from 102 degrees to 50 degrees overnighL
"You have to bring the temperature
of that carcass down fast or bacteria on site," Jacobs said.
will start to grow," Jacobs said. "After the outbreak, he, ihe inspec-
Jacobs said it's also dangerous for tor, and his co-workers had a lot of
meat to be packed in boxes because meetings, but that's about iL v
cardboard acts as an insulator, which      "He didn't have to really make any
slows the chilling process and gives changes in how he conducted his in-
more time for bacteria to grow. spections, at least not here."
Jacobs disagreed with reports that AccordingtoJacobs,inspectorslook
the bacterial strain would have been for cleanliness in the plant and exam-
killed if Jack-In-The-Box had cooked ine workers' techniques.
"All you can do is keep everything
"This stuff about cooking
temperatures is kind of
ridiculous because you
should be able to eat
ground beef raw."
-animal science
professor John Jacobs
the meat longer.
"This stuff
aboutcooking
temperatures
is kind of ridiculous because you
should be able
to eat that
ground beef
raw.
"Now,if you
go to New
YorkCityand
you order a
hamburger,
odds are it's .
going to be extremely rare.
But if that product was [handled] the extremely clean and check tempera-
way it should have been, there lures on products that are leaving the
wouldn't be any problem with how    plants."
long it had been cooked." According io Jacobs, the meat in-
According to a spokesperson for the dustry is currently experimenting with
U.S. Department of Agriculture Food different testing methods to improve
Safety and Inspection Services, the meat safety,
outbreak was caused by a rare strain "If they "re going to hot-bone, they 're
of a common bacteria, which is found going to have to improve iheir chill-
in the kidneys and fecal matter of ing techniques," Jacobs said,
cows. Despite efforts to improve testing
methods. Store Manager Laura Stahl
It can be devastating to humans. of Jack-In-The-Box at Shaw and
But Jacobs said this tragedy could Chestnut avenues said business has
have been avoided. dropped as a result of this contro-
"This bacteria is easy to avoid if the    versy.
right techniques are used and if the
plant is inspected regularly."
Federal law requires inspectors to
"Sales have gone down here and at
other fast food chains," Stahl said.
"We especially used to see a lot of
be on site at all times during slaughter Fresno State students in here real late
and to conduct spot checks during at night after studying and evening
processing. classes, and we just don't anymore.
"We [atCSUF] havea small slaugh-      "I guess some of it may be due to the
terhouse and only need one inspector    enrollmcm situation there too, but 1
think most of it is because of this
burger frenzy."
"Contrary to what's being said in
the newspapers, our meat .was never
undercooked." Stahl said.
Still, some people have remained
loyal to their favorite burger joints.
Graphic design major Ron Allen,
20, hasn't turned his back on fast^
food.
"Yeah, I'd still eai at Jack-In-The-
Box, but I am more careful when
shopping for meaL
"I always check expiration dates and
the color of it [meat].
However, even expiratirjrt dates on
package labels can be deceiving, according to the USDA spokesperson.
The spokesperson said there are no
federal regulations on dating packaged beef products and thcir"sell-by"
dates if grocery stores and markets
process their own meaL
"If they have a package of meat that
hasn't been sold and they think it
should still be good, they'll just keep
stamping it with new expiration dates
until it gets sold."
Despite the tainted beef scare, students don't seem to be concerned
about the quality of CSUF beef, which
is sold at the Farm Market, located at
the comer of Chestnut and Barstow
avenues.
CSUF student and Farm Market
employee Mark Waldron said customers don't seem to be any more
concerned about die meat issue since
the Jack-In-The-Box story broke.
"Nobody's asked any questions
about who supplies our meat and there
haven't been any drops in sales over
iL" Waldron said.
Jacobs expressed confidence in the
quality of CSUF meaL
"Yeah, (I'm] confidentas anything,"
Jacobs said.
"They're [the officials are] preuy
much satisfied none of the meat came
from the San Joaquin Valley, at least
that's what our inspector told me."
Despite conflicting reports, Jacobs
advises meat consumers not to worry.
Kelly Jantzen/lNsicHT
Polish sausages produced at the CSUF Beef Lab are smoked for
four hours to enhance their flavor. Lab technician Norman Lincoln
makes sure the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees in order
to kill any bacteria.
"The United States has the best in- "Their meat just hangs on a wall and
spection system in the world with the flies swarm all over it and sits for
USDA. days, and then it's sold.
"There arc countries where there is "They're making a bigger deal out
no governmental watchdog agency of this than it is," he said,
inspecting the quality of their meaL "Personally,UikeJack-in-thc-Box."
USU violence forces
tighter campus security
♦Recent problems
attributed to gangs,
non-students in
evening skirmishes.
By Jenny Steffens	
Staff Writer
The answer to gang violence on the
CSUF campus is tightened security at
the university student union.
The upper two levels now close at 6
pjn. and the recreation area below
requires a CSUF identification card
in the evenings.
The only entrance after 6 p.m. is
through the east patio on the lower
level.
Increased problemsof vandalism,
theft, burglary and graffiti contribute to the new conditions.
"It's gang members, that's what it
is." said Glenn Carbon, student
union operations manager. "It's
been going on well over a year."
Establishing ihc new security program on Jan. IS resulted not only
from the rising problems within the
last year, but also from a specific
incident involving juveniles that
occurred on Jan. 8.
According to campus police Ll
Steven King, at approximately 11
p.m. that evening a right broke out
among 10-15 high school-age students beside the snack bar and a gun
was pulled and aimed at someone's
head.
Police arrived before the offender
fired Ihe gun and within minutes after
the crowd dispersed, a six-round
shooting occurred in parking lot D at
a key witness's car.
The juvenile who pulled the gun
was arrested, but no one else was
caught for the drive by shooting.
"This incident was the las*, straw, we
really bad to think of changing the
rules in order to get it under control,"
King said.
There are now two campus police
officers and two community service
officers (CSO's) patrolling the student union area and parking lots from
6 p.m. until midnight on Friday and
Saturday nights. CSO's arc uniformed
officers carrying radios who are employed by campus police, but they are
not trained to intervene physically.
"We act as ears and eyes for officers," said Jim Crossbuck, a CSO who
rotates shifts at the student union.
The CSO's and officer's presence
has had significant impact according
that occurred in parking lot D.
Since that incident, on Jan. 16, there
have been no reported acts of violence involving juveniles in the student union area.
Even if non-CSUF students continue to come, proper identification
will be requested at the entrance.
Trevor Gamba, a 23-year-old industrial technology graduate student
employed by the student union for the
past two years, is currently checking
identification cards on weekend
nights.
Gamba also has a current student list
in case students do not have any iden-
WBtm
L     \    ii ■ ImmmA
iimiit-m'M emsamm^
to campus investigator Dan Horsford
who said, "The first week there were
still a lot of people, but once they saw
our presence they didn't come."
According to campus dispatcher
Deanna Billing, from Dec. 18 to Jan.
15, there was one battery and one
robbery on campus, in addition to the
gun incident and drive by shooting on
Jan. 8.
Since the new program began on
Jan. 15, there has only been one arrest
of a juvenile for possession of a knife
tification with them.
The new program does have drawbacks for students who use Ihe upper
levels of the student union to study.
Closing now at 6 p.m., students
only have one extra hour to study,
since the library closes at 5 p.m. on
both Friday and Saturday.
J'We know it displaces students,
we're not really happy with what
we've had to do," Carlson said, "but I
think students feel a lot safer coming
into the building."
Recycling efforts to reduce
waste on campus by 1995
♦Recycling plan to
be implemented at
CSUF.
By Jodi Fitzpatrick
Staff Writer
Masked students diving into
dumpsters and bins of paper on
every desk are two things students
are likely to notice on campus this
spring.
Recycling at CSUF is about to
shift into high gear.
Implementation of a massive recycling plan was discussed at a
meeting of the Campus Recycling
Commiitcc recently, and students,
faculty and staff can expect to see
two-tiered paper recycling containers on every office desk on the
CSUFcampus. One tier is for white
paper, the other for colored.
Large cyliridrical bins will be
placed in central locations of the
univrrsity'sbuMng^ctyartmcnLs
and especially computer labs. Students, faailty and staif will be re-
sponsible for correctly sorting their
waste paper and placing it in the
correct bin. The bins will be labeled with, a list of what qualifies
as recyclable paper for that particular container.
Smaller bins on individual desks
are considered more effective than
one large bin for the entire area.
Not only does this make the recycling effort.literally in front of
people's faces, but they also must
take initiative to empty the individual bins in the central container
when they are full. This strategy
"gets people to trunk for themselves. It's important to have
people thinking recycling," said
Red Estes, CSUF Men'sTrack Coach    cording to David Terstegen, direc
tor of Environmental Occupation
and Health.
Terstegen also said all the used
and spokesman for the CSUF Campus Recycling Center.
CSUF will have to reduce its solid
waste output 25 percent by 1995 to fluorescent light tubes and ballasts
comply with senate bill 939, accord- on campus are recycled.
ing to Estes. According to Bob Boyd, assis-
The number of tons of solid waste tant director of Plant Operations,
recycled on campus has risen steadily nearly 3,000 gallons of oil are re-
since the Recycling Center began its cycled yearly as well,
efforts in 1980, according to Estes. The light bulbs and die oil are
The next phase of the CSUF recy- picked up from the CSUF campus
cling drive is not for the faint-hearted, by outside companies for a fee.
Aluminum can
"Eventually then will be no
solid waste."
-Red Estes, CSUF Campus
Recycling Center
and glass bottle
recycling that
students are
most familiar
with is already in
full swing. Individuals usually
coUect the glass
and aluminum
    out of garbage
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ cans, classroom
wastebaskets.
Students from the Ecology Society and students' hands,
and other volunteers will be "dump- According to Richard, a familiar
ster diving" to research the content of independent recycler on campus,
the university's trash bins. there is good money to be made
Adrianne McGraw of the Ecology    from student throwaways. Richard
Society will be organizing two teams    said he used to make almost $700
offivestudentsiooonprotectivecloth-    a month collecting aluminum cans
ing and explore the depths and weigh    and bottles,
the findings of a sampling of campus
Now there is more competition.
Richard didn't havemuch time to
help the university determine if it is talk, explaining that he had to get
complying with the 25 percent reduc- over to the Industrial Technology
tioninsolidwasic,saidBrcndaPhillips Building before another recycler
of Janitorial Services. beat him to the lucrative garbage
cans.
While the bulk of the recycling ef-     "It has become some kind of rat
fort will focus on retrieving paper,   race," be said,
other materials are being recycle as     Solid waste recycling at CSUF
well. 4 has begun, but according to Estes
Plant operations sends all its green   there is still a long way to go and it
waste — leaves, lawn clippings, and   will take time and education,
weeds — to the Agriculture Depart-      "Eventually there will be no solid
ment, which turns it into mulch, ac-   waste," Estes said.
The results of student dives will