• (function() { (function(){function b(g){this.t={};this.tick=function(h,m,f){var n=f!=void 0?f:(new Date).getTime();this.t[h]=[n,m];if(f==void 0)try{window.console.timeStamp("CSI/"+h)}catch(q){}};this.getStartTickTime=function(){return this.t.start[0]};this.tick("start",null,g)}var a;if(window.performance)var e=(a=window.performance.timing)&&a.responseStart;var p=e>0?new b(e):new b;window.jstiming={Timer:b,load:p};if(a){var c=a.navigationStart;c>0&&e>=c&&(window.jstiming.srt=e-c)}if(a){var d=window.jstiming.load; c>0&&e>=c&&(d.tick("_wtsrt",void 0,c),d.tick("wtsrt_","_wtsrt",e),d.tick("tbsd_","wtsrt_"))}try{a=null,window.chrome&&window.chrome.csi&&(a=Math.floor(window.chrome.csi().pageT),d&&c>0&&(d.tick("_tbnd",void 0,window.chrome.csi().startE),d.tick("tbnd_","_tbnd",c))),a==null&&window.gtbExternal&&(a=window.gtbExternal.pageT()),a==null&&window.external&&(a=window.external.pageT,d&&c>0&&(d.tick("_tbnd",void 0,window.external.startE),d.tick("tbnd_","_tbnd",c))),a&&(window.jstiming.pt=a)}catch(g){}})();window.tickAboveFold=function(b){var a=0;if(b.offsetParent){do a+=b.offsetTop;while(b=b.offsetParent)}b=a;b<=750&&window.jstiming.load.tick("aft")};var k=!1;function l(){k||(k=!0,window.jstiming.load.tick("firstScrollTime"))}window.addEventListener?window.addEventListener("scroll",l,!1):window.attachEvent("onscroll",l); })(); .comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

    Repiglican Roast

    A spirited discussion of public policy and current issues

    Name:
    Location: The mouth of being

    I'm furious about my squandered nation.

    Friday, October 19, 2007

    repulsive Corporatist Pigs Who Poison America with Impunity day in and Out suggest you just cook your tainted food better

    [...]
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a health alert about the problem and ConAgra voluntarily stopped production of the pies. So far, so good. But here's the punchline: "No recall is planned as the company maintains that its pies are safe if cooked properly."
    So in case anyone missed it, even if you buy a salmonella-tainted product, all you have to do is cook it long enough and everything will be fine.
    These words seem to me less than reassuring since they come from a company that only last year was forced to stop production and recall its peanut butter after 600 were sickened by salmonella contamination. Maybe those 600 "bellyachers" should have just cooked their peanut butter? Is it too much to ask that ConAgra just make uncontaminated food in the first place?
    [...]

    Labels: , , , ,

    Thursday, October 18, 2007

    See How the heartless bastards at Con Agra waited to recall their salmonella tainted crap?

    [...]

    The move came on the same day that a Minnesota mother, angry that Banquet pot pies believed to have sickened her daughter and dozens more could still be found in stores, filed a lawsuit against ConAgra.

    ConAgra, based in Omaha, Neb., had maintained that better cooking directions were the remedy for a salmonella outbreak now tied to 165 cases in 31 states, including Oregon.

    Labels: , , ,

    UPDATE 2-US food companies discount probe of Iraq deals

    Con Agra claims poisoning regular run of the mil Americans is quite enough for them. But we'll see. Certainly no one at any agribusiness conglomerate has a shred of credibility.
    [...]

    The Wall Street Journal said the Justice Department and the Defense Department were examining whether the companies charged excessively high prices to the Army's primary food contractor in the war zone, a Kuwaiti firm called Agility (AGLT.KW: Quote, Profile, Research).

    Agility's dealings are the subject of "a very large and active investigation into criminal and civil fraud involving hundreds of millions of dollars," Justice Department lawyer Brian Mizoguchi told a judge in Federal Claims Court in Washington on June 12, the Journal reported.

    ConAgra Foods Inc (CAG.N: Quote, Profile, Research), a leading packaged-food vendor, said it had been assured by the Defense Department that its role in the investigation "is limited to that of a witness."

    [...]

    Labels: , , , ,

    Wednesday, October 17, 2007

    Food Companies, Including Poison Pot Pie and Peanut Butter People ConAgra, Face U.S. Probe Over Iraq Deals

    WASHINGTON -- Prominent American food companies are under scrutiny in a federal probe of possible fraud and corruption in the military's food-supply operations for the Iraq war.

    Investigators from the Justice Department and the Defense Department are looking into deals that Perdue Farms Inc., Sara Lee Corp., ConAgra Foods Inc. and other U.S. companies made to supply the military, according to people involved in the inquiry. The companies made the deals with the help of former U.S. military procurement officials they hired as consultants or executives.

    The inquiry is focused on whether the food companies set excessively high prices when they sold their goods to the Army's primary food contractor for the war zone, a Kuwaiti firm called Public Warehousing Co. A related question is whether Public Warehousing improperly pocketed for itself refunds it received from these suppliers. Public Warehousing bought vast amounts of meat, vegetables and bakery items from the food companies, and delivered them to U.S. troops.

    Public Warehousing's dealings are the subject of "a very large and active investigation into criminal and civil fraud involving amounts in the hundreds of millions of dollars," Justice Department lawyer Brian Mizoguchi told a judge in Federal Claims Court in Washington, D.C., on June 12. Public Warehousing, which receives more than $1 billion annually to feed troops in Iraq and Kuwait, denies wrongdoing.

    Federal investigators are also examining the role Army officials played in picking the food companies that are Public Warehousing's suppliers. Once a "prime vendor" is chosen by the Pentagon to deliver the food -- in this case, Public Warehousing -- that vendor receives guidance from the Army on what should be on the menu. Sometimes the Army demands specific brands of food from specific manufacturers. The prime vendor must then negotiate prices for these menu items with these manufacturers.

    Profit Margins

    In general, many military contracts pay suppliers the cost of the goods they distribute plus a profit margin. In such cases, it is a challenge to ensure that the supplier seeks the lowest price from the maker of the goods. Unless adequate safeguards are in place, the supplier and the maker have an incentive to inflate the cost and share the extra profits among themselves.

    Federal law prohibits government contractors from obtaining money through false or fraudulent pretenses.

    [...]

    Labels: , , ,