SAFEWAY MEATXPOSED

RAUD

firm, Agri-SCience Laboratories, Inc. ofHawthorne, California, which is certifiedby the U. S. Department of Agricultureas meat chemists.

The results of the inquiry showed, shesaid, that "There is no significant fatcontent difference between grades of groundbeef at Safeway."

A later investigation by the same TaskForce for Consumer Protection revealedthat Safeway' s labeling of whole meat cutswas similarly misleading and fraudulent,prompting the Task Force to file another$33 million suit on these charges April 6.

The investigation into the meat cutsfraud was conducted with the aid of R21­mond Salas, a Denver-area professionalmeat cutter and beef boner. "I have beenjob trained to identify the traits and char­acteristics of all standard cuts of Beef,Pork, Lamb, Veal and Poultry," Salas saidin an affadavit accompanying the suit.

Salas then listed more than a dozenexamples of mislabled meat that he hadpersonally investigated, and said that fL :>(­

hand investigation into the meat departmentat a local Safeway store had revealed be­tween 33 percent and 100 percent of meatcuts similarly mislabeled.

Among Salas' examples were cuts whichSafeway had labeled as T- bone steak butwhich were actually the tail end of theshort loin; first cut pork chops, nearthe shoulder end, which were labeled andsold as the more expensive center cutchops; and blade chuck steak labeled andsold at an increased price as U.S. choicebeef seven bone steak.

"In every instance of mislabeling whichI observed," he said, "the price chargedfor the mislabeled cut of meat was higherper pound than the price which the storewas charging for the cut which thE' pack­age actually contained."

million a year.Representative Jerome Waldie of Cal­

ifornia and Benjamin S. Rosenthal of NewYork joined the Interfaith Committee intheir charges at a joint news conference'in Washington, D.C. March 21.

"Safeway stores across the countryare substituting cheaper cuts of meat formore expensive cuts at premium prices,"Waldie said, "and in some cases theAmerican consumer is being cheated byas much as 39 cents a pound for beef."Rosenthal echoed Waldie's sentiments, cit­ing specific examples of fraudulent label­ing from Safeway stores in the Washington,D.C. area.

California State Senator David A. Roberti(D.- Los Angeles) also cited "substantialproof that Safeway has consistently mis­labeled meats at a higher quality than wasactually the case. It is ObviOUS," he said,"that'the purpose was to maximize profits."

The Rev. Fred Eyster, Director of theConsumer Fraud Task Force of the Inter­faith Committee, cited the recent meatboycott "as clear evidence that consumersin this country are fed up with high meatprices.

"But," he continued, "Safeway's fraud­ulent labelling practices make a bad sit·,uation much worse. A ceiling on meatprices is meaningless if you allow super­markets like Safeway to mislabel meatcuts and.lhe.reby reap exorbident and il­legal profits. Safeway has engaged in oneof the most glaring, nation-wide consumerfrauds ever perpetrated. TIley must bestopped."

Rep. Jerome Waldie sharply criticizedSafeway for defrauding consumers.

DENVER, Colorado--Denver 'DistrictAttorney Dale Tooley has charged SafewayStores, Inc. in this area with fraudulentlymisrepresenting the fat content of theirhamburger. In tests conducted by the Den­ver Department of Health and Hospitalsat his request, ground beef marked 'extralean' had a higher fat content than thatmarked 'lean', with the "extra lean" meatpriced 23 cents higher than the "lean".

Tooley also uncovered instances in whichhamburger marked 'lean' was less than1 percent leaner than regular ground, eventhough it was selling at 20 cents moreper pound. Tooley reported that the fatcontent in lean meat purchased at six Safe­way stores ranged from 15.5 to 25.5 percent, adding that such percentages wouldhave been sold as regular hamburger atother chains.

The District Attorney's investigationwas triggered by a $31 million dollar suitfiled against Safeway by the Task Forcefor Consumer Protection of Denver, char­ging the giant chain with "fraudulent andillegal meat labeling practices" which, theorganization said, "are deceiving metroDenver area consumers and endangering thehealth patients and diabetics."

Commenting on the last part of theircomplaint against Safeway, Ms. Peg Flem­ing, an officer of the Task Force whichconducted the investigation, said that "Foryears heart patients, diabetics, weight­watchers and high blood pressure victimshave paid 30 to 50 cents per pound morefor 'lean' and 'extra lean' ground beefthinking they were protecting their health.

"Now we find they have been deceived,she continued. "Their health has in factendangered for the sake of more cor­porate profits for Safeway."

Ms. Fleming explained that the suitwas based on laboratory tests of Safeway'sground beef conducted by an independent

selves to the Los Angeles area or evento California, Doyle explained, but madetheir investigation nation-wide, includingsuch cities as Seattle, Portland, Denverand Washington, D.C. He said that over120 stores were visited and that less than10 percent of them were found to be freeof mislabeling.

"Safeway's mislabeling practice is con­sistent across the country," Doyle said,"and can only be regarded as a consciouspolicy on the part of the top managementof the chain to defraud consumers for jbeirown profit." He estimated the total 1~lueof such fraud to Safeway to be over $85

Denver D.A. ChargesSafewayHamburger Fraud

~afeway meat

30 to 50 cents a pound," Hartmire said.Hartm re addit!0 l 1al y ch~, ged Safeway

with seIling club steaks as T- bones ata 10 cent per pound premium; mislabeling'swiss steaks as round steaks for an extraprofit of 10 cents per pound; and sellingbeef liver as calf liver, thereby over­charging customers by a whopping 60 to70 cents per pound. In each case he showedthe press examples of Safeway meats somislabeled.Doyle, who directed the investigation for the

Committee explained that the inquiry wasthe result of consumer complaints aboutmeat prices and 'quality, and that Safewayhad been singled out only when its label­ling practices proved consistently fraudulent.

"A team of investigators consIsting ofseveral meat cutters, a meat wrapper,an engineer and several housewives, con­ducted an initial survey of the three lead­ing supermarket chains in the Los An­geles area: Lucky, Alpha Beta and Safe­way," he said. "The results of the sur­vey showed that both Lucky and AlphaBeta were labelling their meats accordingto industry standards.

"However," he continued, "the resultsalso showed what appeared to be a con­sistent policy of mislabeling meat cutsat Safeway stores. Therefore it was de­cided to launch an in-depth survey of Safe­

way in an effortlto document this practice:'The investigators did not confine them-

Meat Cut Switch Costs Consumers $85 Million Yearly

ct4 AR

'~ .3.~~~..{..-:: . :..:-;...v('

Consumers and the press inSpect a dis play of mislabeleocuts at the Interfaith Committee press conference.

R~y. <;:~is Hartmire of the Interfaitli Committee to Aid Farm WorkelS showsa mislabeled cut of Safeway meat to the press.

LOS ANGELES, Calitornia-- SafewayStores, Inc. w..:: :::~ with il 36 ml 'on

llss-action-lawsutt here March 29 charg"ing them with "knbwingly and wilfullymislabeling meat cuts"'. and thereby de­frauding consumers of tens of millionsof dollars annually. The suit was filedby the Interfaith Committee to Aid FarmWorkers, a Los Angeles-based organizationwith over 200 ministers, priests, rabbisand lay persons as members, and wassupported publicly by two United StatesCongressmen and a California State Senator.

"Safeway is the largest beef retailer in thecountry. They claim to sell only the bestmeats, when in fact they have been sys­tematically deceiving their customers andreaping high profits through meat fraud,"charged the Rev. Wayne C. Hartmire, Jr.,Chairman of the Committee, in announcingthe suit.

"At a time when meat prices are at'an all time high, Safeway customers geta double dose of misery," he continued."They pay premium prices for their meatand all too often end up with cuts thatare tougher and fattier than Safeway labelsled them to believe they were purchasing:'

Rev. Hartmire and Kenneth Doyle, aninvestigator for the Consumer Fraud TaskForce of the Interfaith Committee, selec­ted several samples from the hundredsof mislabeled meat cuts they had broughtwith them to th'e press conference. Amongthem were rib steaks labeled as club steaks,"thereby defrauding their customers by

SlrBWII: Ilational Disgrace

I.

Washington D.C.TOO MUCH FAT IN HAMBERGERSafeway . has been warned by city food

inspectors here that it is selling groundbeef with a fat content higher than thatto fines of up to $3000to fines of up to- $300 and ten days inj ail per sample, Bailus Walker, directorof the Districts' environmental health ad­ministration, told reporters.

Washington's law calls for no morethan 30 percent fat content in "regular"ground beef, 21 to 23· percent in the lean",and 16 to 18 percent in hamburger labeledas "extra lean." Safeway was found tohave violated those legal guidelines, andwas threatened with action against it byCity officials .

The inspectors found the water supplyof the plant unacceptable, and raised atotal of nine objections to the processingprocedure at the plant, including "changingof gloves not required at four hour inter­vals by inspector," and "plant employeewas not properly trained in identifyingand reporting defects."

But the most serious charges--a totalof sixteen--dealt with sanitation at the plant,which also was found unacceptable. Thosecharges included:

--"loose paint on walls in sausagedepartment;

-- "loose paint on overhead structurein boning room, storage cooler, poultrycooler and sausage department;

--"framework of some equipment insausage department corroded;

--"foot. stands in sausage and boningdepartments need cleaning;

- -"galvanized boning tables dirty;--"floors in sausage and boning de-.

partments not cleaned at lunch and breakperiods: and

--"broken and/or splintered pallets beingused in most areas of plant."

An investigation into Safeway Storesin Seattle and Tacoma revealed a system­

.a tic pattern of Substituting beef liver forcalf liver, yielding Safeway a substantial70 cents per pound premium on sales.Beef liver normally sells for 79 centsa pound, while calf liver commands $1.49per pound.

The inquiry was conducted by Hub Segur,on the staff of the Interfaith Committeeto Aid Farm Workers, with the assistanceof Gretchen Davis, a professional meatwrapper.

Their study also revealed that Safewaycommonly sold club steak as t-bone steak,a practice reported at Safeway stores inother parts of.the country.

California State Senator David A. Ro berti (D.-Los Angeles) has found "sub­stantial 'proof that Safeway has consis tently mislabeled meats at a higher qual­ity than was actually. the case. It is obvious," he' said, "that the purpose wasto maximize profits."

-

Washington

Oreg~n

RATS IN THE WAREHOUSE:IND ICTED, CONY ICTED AND FINED

FEDERAL INYEST IGAT ION FINDSMFAT PLANT "UNACCEPTABLE"

POR TLAND, Oregon--Federal meat inspectors found the Safe­

way meat processing plailt near here "un­acceptable" in three of the six categoriesunder inspection, including sanitation.

Texas

BEEF LIVER FOR CALF LIVFR- ATDOUBLE THF PRICE

For the second time in two years, andat two separate locations in this state,Safeway Stores, Inc. has been sued bythe federal government for maintainingunsanitary conditions at the company'sfood storage warehouses. Indictments in1971 resulted in convictions and fines ofSafeway officials, as has a recent casein EI Paso; a recent indictment in theDallas area is still pending.

Government evidence in the 1971 casein the Dallas area included black and whiteand color photographs showing the ware­house interior littered with debris fromsacks and cartons attacked by rats. Gov­ernment exhibits also showed rats amidtorn flour sacks and a nest of newbornrats snuggled between sacks of peanuts.

The government alleges in the recentDallas case that food at the warehouseis contaminated by the rats' urine and fe­cal droppings. The federal criminal indict­ment names 5afeway and one of its vice­presidents, Horace A Justice, Safeway'sdivision manager for the Dallas area, asdefendants.

In the EI Paso case, a U.S. DistrictCourt fined Safeway and three of its of­ficials a total of $7,500 for storing bagsof flour in a warehouse where they were

. exposed to contamination by rodents andbirds.

PUTR ID PORK CHOPS

San Francisco

A $25 million class-action suit againstSafeway Stores, Inc. charges the giant chainwith the sale of pork chops "composedin part of diseased, contaminated, filthy,putrid or decomposed materials," claimingthat such products "had been produced underunsanitary conditions which rendered themunwholesome, diseased and injurous tohealth."

Lab reports accompanying the suit, done,by Bakte Schiece Labs of Berkeley, citeone sample "infected by a pus-like sub­stance" which the scientists say i~ pro­duced by an "organism associated with fecalcontamination reSUlting from mishandlingof the meat."

The suit was filed in Alameda Co. Su­perior Court with two consumers, JamesH. Gekas and Cathryn D. Porcelli asplaintiffs. Chuck Farnsworth, an attorneyfor the two plaintiffs, says that news re­ports about the suit prompted severlunsolicited phone calls from other con­sumers who had similar experiences withSafeway's pork chops.

MISUSING USDA LABELSSafeway has been charged with--and has

admitted--misusing 'USDA choice' and'USDA prime' labels on some of its meatproducts.

Such labels are by law supposed to beattached to pure beef and lamb productsonly. However, investigators found thatSafeway had used them extensively onliverwurst, bratwurst, and similar pro­ducts in its Bay-area stores.

The practice was revealed by an $80million class-action suit filed by FatherEugene J. Boyle against the food chain.At a preliminary hearing 5afeway admittedthat the charges were true but claimedit had discontinued the practice. FatherBoyle has said he will press his suit,seeking damages for all consumers de­ceived by Safeway's misuse of the labels.

tion temperatures which ailow rapid growthof bacteria in meat and dairy products;

--"Rat poison located in the flour sectionof the store. Mice and/or rat droppings inthe meat case, and on grocery shelves.Baited rat trap in aisle;

--"Floors, shelves, baskets filthy. Spilledflour and sugar left on shelves and floors."

SANITATION SURVEY HITSSAFEWAY

Los Angeles

Pictured above are meat cuts labeled according to industry standards. Yet ina national survey of Safeway stores cheaper cutS were systematically substitutedfor more expensive ones: Rib steaks were labeled as Club steaks, thereby deceiv­ing consumers into paying 50 cents per pound more; Club steaks were sold asT-bones making Safeway another 10 cents per pound; T-bone steaks were labeledPorterhouse at 10 cents per pound more. Safeway takes every opportunity toprofiteer. even mislabeling its cheapest cuts--Swiss steaks are sold as Roundsteaks at a 20 cent per pound increase.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT CONFIRMSINSECTS IN SAFEWAY COOKIES

In a report to AI Lavers, Chief of theDivision of Consumer Protection for LosAngeles County, William G. Waldron, Sen­ior Biologist-Entomologist for theCountyHealth Department, confirmed that SafewayStoes in the area had marketed cookiesinfested with various kinds of insects andtheir larvae. ,

"Insect evidence such as webbing, fraces,immature moth larvae, and mature IndianMeal Moth adults, were observed in manyof the cookie packages investigated," Wal­dron said in his official report.

"At my suggestion, Mr. Jerry Van DorneDistribution Manager forSafeway StoreslITe. , was issued a written notice to fu­ITI.gate all the cookie cases in the storagevan," Waldron continued. "The van whenemptied, while the food products werebeing fumigated with methyl-bromide, wasthen to be sprayed on the inside witha nontoxic insecticide."

The Health Department investigationwas the direct result of a $250,000 law­suit filed against Safeway by the Los' An­geles Interfaith Committee to Aid FarmWorkers, charging that "Committee inves­tigators discovered insect eggs, larvae,worms and live flying insects inside cel­lophane-wrapped packages of EI Molinobrand cookies and other baked goods soldat Safeway Markets."

Filed with the suit was an affidavitfrom Dr. Robert Buker, a Los AngelesCounty Public Health Physician, Who stated"It is my professional opinion that the pre­sence of said insects in the packagesof cookies and bakery products which Iexamined constitutes a potentially extremehazard to the health of any person con­suming same."

A survey of 34 Safeway stores in the LosAngeles area revealed sanitation conditionsconsiderably less than satisfactory.

Among the most common violations listedwere:

--"Filthy employee toilet facilities;--"Damaged and/or defective equipment in

the refrigerator section; improper ~efrigera-

PIITICIDIS: Danger to CODsamersand rarmWorkers

LOS ANGELES, California-~ An inves­tigation by the California Assembly Com­mittee on Agriculture, Food and Nutritionhas revealed that growers have harvestedpesticide-contaminated lettuce and that ma­jor _retailers like Safeway have marketedit, endangering the health of consumersand farm workers alike. In some casessuch action was taken knowingly and ag­ainst the warnings of State AgricultureCommissioners, and criminal' indictmentsagainst such parties may be forthcoming.

The investigation grew out of reportsearly this year that lettuce in California's

Assemnlyman Alatorre: first hand evi­dence of pesticide damage to farm workers.

Imperial Vlley was showing signs of con­tamination from the use of the nerve­gas pesticide Monitor 4. An investigationby Imperial County Agricultural Comm­issioner Claude' Finnell uncovered num­erous cases of residues in excess of thelegal tolerance.

However, hearings before the Committeerevealed that 'much of the lettuce washarvested, shipped and consumed anyway,and that farm workers and consumers alikehad experienced symptoms--sometimes se­vere-- due to exposure to the pesticide.

California Assemblyman Richard Al-'atorre (D.-Los Angeles) visited the Imper­ial Valley and talked to farm workerswho had harvested the crops.

"I saw a man whose hands were beingeaten up," Alatorre told newsmen. "You'could see the irritation, the scratchiness."I saw men whose hands looked rottenor :>"ho had sores along their arms thathad not healed." Alatorre noted that farmworkers have no protection against suchpoisoning. since there are no legal tol­erances established for workers handlingcontaminated crops.

Assembly Speaker Bob Moretti, speakingbefore the Committee and also noting thelack of protection for farm workers, said," Just as we cannot tolerate using theconsumers food plate as a testing groundfOr pesticide research, we cannot toleratethe use of farm workers as laboratorymice for discovering the human healtheffects of new pesticides. II

The Committee hearings revealed thatthe dangers to consumers are similarlysevere. Despite pesticide contaminationsas much as 6.5 times the legal maximum,much of the Imperial Valley lettuce cropwas marketed by stores such as Safewayand consumed by the public, with onlya fraction destroyed by federal officials.A sampling of areas around the country

Assembly Speaker Moretti: Neither farmworkers nor consumers should be usedas pesticide guinea 'pigs.

revealed:

-··A large shipment of lettuce with a Mon­itor 4 reading' of 2.5 parts per million'(the legal maximum is I ppm) was soldto the U.S. Navy and consumed.--263 cases of lettuce contaminated with4.0 ppm of Monitor 4 were seized anddestroyed in St. Louis.--Lettuce bearing a residue of 6.5 ppm

, was consumed by the public in Rochester,N.Y.

, - - Lettuce' from Yuma, Ariz. showing 1.5ppm of Monitor-4 was sent to Canadafor consumption.--In Chelsea, M'ass., lettuce bearing 3.6'ppm of the pesticide was sold and con­sumed.--Consumers in Buffalo, N. Y. ate lettucewith 4.7 ppm of Monitor-4.

Symptoms of pesticide poisoning includenausea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches, andpoor vision and breathing. However, be­cause these are also the symptoms ot"common flu, pesticide poisoning has beendifficult to diagnose.

Lately, doctors for both farm workersand consumers have begun to suspect thatit is not the flu at all that their patientsare suffering from. "The flu is not whatthese people have," says Dr. KennethTittle of the United Farm Workers Clinicin Calexico, Cal. "In the first place, fluis not chronic, and these diseases usuallyare. It can go on for weeks or monthsand is not associated with fever. The flualmost always brings a fever.

In addition, Tittle said, the farm workershave responded to a drug called at­rophine, specifically designed for pesticidepoisoning.

Dr. H. Rudolph Alsleben, in written'testimony before the Assembly Committee,said that he has noticed an outbreak ofsimilar symptoms among his suburbanAnaheim patients. "The most effectivetreatment has proved to be atrophine,',he said. "Curiously, atrophine is an an­tidote for organo-phosphate (pesticide)poisoning.'; -

As things stand now, neither farm workersnor consumers have much protection ag­ainst the dangers of pesticide poisoning.There are no laws whatsoever protectingworkers, and those protecting consumersare often ignored or weakly enforced, asthe Monitor-4 case has amply illustrated.

Illilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 CONSUMERS & FA~ W1RKERS RFCOJm- [lRRORS (f LFTHICF mIS1NI ~G 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111I1I1I1111111111111111111111111111111111111111

SAN ANTONIA~ Texas--Withconsumers across the countryoutraged at the price of beefand~ in spme cases~ activelyorganizing to lower prices~

William S. Mitchell~ Presidentof Safeway Stores~ Inc. ~ hasclaimed that meat prices are"not too high."

Mitchell had a receptiveaudience for his comments--theAmerican National Cattleman'sAssociation~ meeting in conven­tion here. "The first thing Ithink we~ the producers and theretailer's~ must do~" he said~ "isshoot down the idea that beefprices are too hig_h."

On February 19, 1973 I ate at a smallcafe on Sacramento Avenue in Berkeley.I ordered a green salad. The waitressstarted to pick leaves off a head of let­tuce, but commented that all the leaveshad small black holes burnt in them. Shekept peeling away the leaves, and throwingthem out. Finally, she had made mea salad of the leaves near the centerof the head of lettuce, but even thesehad burn marks on them. I hardly ateanything else for lunch; About three hourslater, I began to feel sever~ stomachpains and went home. All nIght I feltthe stomach pains--they were sharp, likeulcer pain--and I woke up the next dayfeeling nauseous. I couldn't sleep wellthat night, and probably woke up 100 times.All the time I felt like vomiting but didn't.- - Kern Greaves

Berkeley***

On :Ylarch 4, 1973, my wife made a largesalad with lettuce she had bought fromthe Safeway Store at High Street and Mac­Arthur Blvd. in Oakland. I ate some ofthat lettuce, and the next day, Monday,March 5, I was sick--I couldn't sleep, Ifelt like vomiting but couldn't, and feltnauseous. I couldn't perform my dutiesas postman I felt so sick, and stayed

GRAPHIC EVIDENCEof Safeway's meat fraud is pro­

vided by examining the abovemeat cuts. The top one was pur­

chased at a Safeway store in LosAngeles on February 20, 1973.

It is clearly labeled "T-bonesteak," yet the package actually

contains a Club steak. Thebottom sample is a correctly

labeled T-bone steak, purchased atLucky store on March 24, 1973.

home March 5th and 6th. I didn't eat any­more lettuce, and on March 7th I feltwell enough to return to work.--Carl E. Hanna

Oakland

***On about February 26, 1973, I pur­

chased some iceberg lettuce at the May­fair Market at the corner of Ocean andSan Jose Avenue in San Francisco. I havebeen trying generally to eat a lot of let­tuce recently because I'm dieting. Aftereating some of the lettuce on about Feb­ruary 27, I began to feel' nauseous. Thatnight, I couldn't sleep. I felt weak, hada headache and vomitted. The next dayI ate some more of the lettuce and thesymptoms continued. I continued to eat thelettuce and the symptoms continued--vom­iting, sleeplessness, nausea, weakness,headaches. (I generally never have head­aches.) I went to Letterman Hospital inSan Francisco. Finally, belieVing the pro­blem might be caused by the lettuce Iwas eating, I stopped eating it complet­ely about March 5. Since then I havefelt better and the symptoms have sub­sided.

- - Dolores CircleSan Francisco

incorrectly labeled

safeway T- bone steak

In each of the areas I worked in thelighter pre harvest operations, I havebeenafflicted with the following symptoms'of pesticide poisoning--frequent shortnessof breath, general weakness of body, painin the legs and arms, and skin problemssuch as rashes. When I was first afflic­ted with these problems, I went to seea doctor in Calexico. He told me thatmy condition was a result of the pest­icides used by the growers from whomI worked. He gave me some medication.--M.R., Calexico

***I was a lettuceecutter at Martori Bto­

thers Ranch during the months of Januaryand February 1973 and at Danenburg Farmsfor the last four days of February. Aboutlate February, after the fields were spray­ed with pesticides, I began to experiencea sore throat, much sweating, and generalfeelings simjIar to having a cold. I con-

Sl\FEWAY PRESIDENT /"..

DrFENDS HIGH REEf FRfCES

tinued working for the four days, even,though I felt this way. I still have a stuf­fy nose, and feel as though I have a cold.I do not know when or how the pesti­cides were applied.--S.N., Calexico

***Miguel S., 26 years old, 'has picked

lettuce for seven years and hassneverbeen seriously ill before this season. Nowhis skin is peeling from his hands inlarge dry patches. His feet are also peel­ing:

"A. rash began on my body six weeksago and then my hands and feet beganto peel. I went to a doctor in Nogales.He told me there was nothing to do ifI did not quit the fields.

When I walk my feet burn from the peel­ing, and some days its very hard to workwith them. At the beginning of the season,I had headaches and blurred vision. Thathas gone away

NATIONAL T, V, POLL

Sl\FEWAY CUSTCfv1ERSPACK LETTUCE PDYCOlT

BOSTON, Massachusetts--Safeway Stores,Inc., the second larges t food chain in thecountry, in effect sponsored a referendumon the United Farm Workers lettuce boy­cott,and lost badly.

When "lbe A.dvocates", a nationallytelevised program of the National Educat­ional Television network, scheduled a de­bate broadcast on the question, "ShouldI Support the National Lettuce Boycott?",Safeway spent an estimated $25,000 in ad­vertising urging its customers to viewthe program and decide for themselves

In the second largest vote in the his­tory of the Advocates program, 87% ofits viewers backed the lettuce boycottwith only 13% voting against it.

The program consisted of two advocatessupporting either side of the question atissue, each of whom called upon witness-­es to support his side. Witnesses support­ing the lettuce boycott included DoloresHuerta, Vice President of the United FarmWorkers. Speaking against the boycott wasa coalition of Teamsters Union and grow,·er representatives.,

EPA PANS MJNnOR 4

SAFEWAY LET11JCE BURIEDSAN FRANCISCO, California--Some of

SafeWay's lettuce was so badly contam­inated with pesticide Monitor-4 that it hadto be buried near here.

A burial certificate issued by PerryCoy, a local agricultural official, states," January • 1973 ~ lots of JEFF brandhead lettuce tota'lrng 2,896 Cartons wereloaded into six truck trailers at Safe­way Stores Distribution Center, Richmond,Calif.

.. January 6, 1973 this inspector wit­nessed the breaking of all six seals andthe dumping of 2,8% cartons of JEFFbrand head lettuce and the subsequentcrushing and burial by 0-8 tractor ofboth lots at the Richmond land fill dump."

LOS ANGELES, California-- DouglasCempt, an official'representative of the fed­eral Environmental Protection Agency, ad­mitted in hearings before the California

'Assembly Committee on Agriculture~ Foodand Nutrition that the EPA had bannedthe use of Monitor-4 on lettuce in the wakeof the scandal surrounding the harvest­ing and marketing of lettuce contaminatedwith that pesticide.

However, Cempt said that growers arefree to use the chemical on a multitudeof other crops, and that lettuce was theonly marketable produce for which thepesticide was banned.

DEADLY PHOSDRIN PERILSFARM v.K)RKERS

SAFEWAY SUED FOR Sl\LE. OF

POISONED LETTUCE

EL CENTRO, CaUfornia--In responseto charges by Jerry Cohen, General Coun­sel for the United Farm Workers, Stateand County Officials here are investigatingnearby Danny Danenburg Farms for pos­sible violations in the use of the highlytoxic pestiCide, Phosdrin.

Growers have turned to Phosdrin sincethe banning of Monitor-4 for use on let­tuce. The new substitute is even moretoxic than the chemical it replaces, hav­ing only half the tolerance.

Imperial County Agricultural Commis­sioner was caught by surprise by Cohen'scharges, and could only tell the Commit­tee that he would investigate immediately.

Apparently his investigation turned upincriminating information, because the re­sults of the inquiry have been turnedover to Imperial Coun~ District AttorneyJim Hamilton for possible prosecution. Ne­i ther office would make any further commentbeyond stating that the incident is stillunder investigation.

LOS ANGELES, California--Safeway wasamong several supermarket chains, whole­sale distributors and pesticide manufactur­ers sued by the Interfaith Committee toAid Farm Workers and dozens of con··sumers because of their sale of head let­tuce contaminated with illegal residuesof the pestiCide, Monitor-4. The suit seeks$100 million in damages in addition toan injunction prohibiting sale of contam­inated lettuce.

"It is outrageous that giant retailerslike Safeway place their customers' healthin danger by their own refusal to ad­equately test the lettuce they sell," saidDavid Grabill, attorney for the plaintiffCommittee.

"We are in court," Grabill continued,"because the government and food chainslike Safeway have not taken the mostelementary steps to protect the public."

Legislative analyst A. Alan Post added,"Licensees have at the present time littlereason to believe" they will be punishedfor violation of pesticide regulations, de­claring that the Department of Agricul­ture is caught in a conflict of interestbetween promoting the agriculture industryand watching over the use of chemicals.

The suit was supported by dozens ofaffadavits from consumers who sufferedill effects after eating contaminated let­tuce. Typical symptoms included dizziness,vomiting or a desire to vomit, violentstomach cramps, and severe headachesSymptoms often lasted for days after con­suming the lettuce and continued whilelettuce was repeatedly eaten, subsidingand disappearing only upon ending lettuceconsumption.

Additional evidence from inde~ndent

agricultural iaboratories, showing thatsamples of lettuce from Safeway storesexceeded the legal limit for pesticide re··sidues, were also submitted as evidencein support of the suit.

( (~-.

Phosdrin; meuinphosTDE ; DOD: RhothaneToxapheneZinebCarbylCarbaryl;sevinFluorine CompoundsDacthal; DimethylDOEPCNBSulfoteppHexachlorobenzenePenta Chloro Analine

month it was discovered that additional thousandsof cases of lettuce contaminated \vith large quanti­ties of Phosdrin had been distributed in whatappears to be a particularly flagrant breach of thelaw. The United Farm Workers Union has chargedthat one grower ordered lettuce harvesters intothe field one day after the crop had been treated\vith Phosdrin; federal and state regulations re­quire a four-day waiting period from the timePhosdrin is applied ·until.the crop is picked. Thestate is "considering" criminal prosecution in thiscase. If the UFWU allegation is true, the mostvigorous prosecution should follow.

Pesticides plainly are necessary to protect cropsall over the country; without these chemicalagents, agricultural losses in the field would belarge, and food prices would soar even higher. Butjust as necessary is protection of persons who comeIn contact \vith crop~nsumers certainly, butfarm laborers first of all.

Dr. Ephraim Kahn of the California Departmentof Agriculture notes the need for new, less toxic,pesticides, but is not hopeful that theY" can bedeveloped soon. That means that potentially dan·gerous chemicals will still have to be used. Maybetougher regulations cn these compounds are n!oed·ed. In any case, the level of danger is at least con­trollable to some, possibly a large, e>.1:ent It Is upto the growers. Their responsible use of the organophosphates is not iust a matter of obeying stateand federal regulations. F"ar more important is thematter of protecting the health of their employes.When that responsibility is ignored, the punish.ment should be severe.

l!Og .\lng-tIt« ~tmt~ FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 1973

OFFICIAL FDA REPORT

There is strong evidence that a number of farmworkers in the Imperial Valley have been poisonedby new kinds of pesticides that were used on vege·table crops. How many laborers may have beenmade UI is not known, nor does anyone know whatthe ultimate effects on humans of the pesticidesmay be. The California Department of Agricultureand the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency saythey plan studies on the effects of the pesticides onfarm workers. That is fine, but an obvious questionis why those studies were not conducted before thetoxic materials were certified for use, and beforemen apparently were made sick by them.

The pesticides are f,'Om a family called organophosphates. They are a replacement for now­banned DDT, and they are attractive because theydissipate quickly and lose their toxicity within afew weeks. The trouble is that the pesticides cancause illness or death if misused. The organo phos­phates, in fact, were originally developed duringWorld War II as a nerve gas. The reported cases offarm labor poisoning seem to have stemmed fromexcessive application of the pesticides, prematureexposure of workers to a treated field or prolongedcontact with pesticide residues on crops.

One of the organo phosphates, Monitor 4, hasbeen banned by the EPA for use on head lettuce.That happened after residues up to six times thefederally established tolerance were found on morethan 10,000 (",ses of lettuce distributed throughoutUle United States.

Another organo phosphate, Phosdrin, was thenused as a substitute for Monitor 4. But earlier this

The pangerous Use of Pes\icides

~~TION/S LETTUCE POISONED

AldrinBHC: Benzene HexachlorideDDTDiazinonDieldrinEndrinEndosulfan: thiodanKelthaneLindaneMalathionMethyl Parathion; MetacideOvex; OvotranParathionparthane

The follOWing is a listing of various chem icals found on lettuce samples by theFederal Drug Administration during the fiscal year 1972:

:~:~:~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::~:::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;::

The statement was signed by several dozennational religious leaders.

- -George Meany

published by the•

Committeefor the Protection of

Consumers and Farm Workers•

Los Angeles, Ca.

...'..,...,,-

" ... They signed a sweetheart contractthat the court kicked out so they wentin and signed a super sweetheart contract.And the purpose of that contract is todestroy the Farm Workers Union. And Ijust don't think they are going to be suc­cessful. I don't think you wipe out aninstitution that has its base in the desireof people to live in some other conditionthan abject poverty. I don't think thesepeople are going to be pushed back intoabject poverty, which would be the re­sult of destroying theIr Union, and I don'tthink the Teamsters are going to be ableto destroy them."

RELIGIOUS LEADERSCONDEMN TEAMSTERS

MEANY BlASTS IDJ\1STERS

I

Seldom in recent years have we felt'constrained to issue a public condemnation.We have a proper reluctance in issuingsuch serious statements. But we are ap­palled by the Teamsters' current cynicaland unprecedented alliance with the FarmBureau and lettuce growers -traditionallytWO of the strongest anti-union forces inthe country-to crush the United Farm Wor­kers. Our sense of outrage, provoked byyour patently unjust and unwarranted ass­ault, compels us to condemn you and youroperation in the severest and most unequiv­ocal terms.

When UFW began organizing in Salinasin 1970, your sudden appearance on the scene(again at the behest of the growers) withthe claim to exclusive bargaining rightsagain displayed your utter contempt for thedesire of the workers. Recognition was gran­ted you on the same day it was askedand you signed, without any consultationof the workers, contracts granting you ex­clusive bargaining'rights for the workers.The Supreme Court in its decision onChavezvs. Englund issued December 29, 1972 calledthis "the ultimate form of favoritism", andthose of us with some knOWledge of laborhistory have not been able to discoveranother instance where one union so bla­tantly aided an employer keep out anotherunion.

Your continued callous indifference to therights of farm. workers- this time for theirhealth and safety - was highlighted last weekin testimony' given by Teamster represen­tatives at the State Assembly Sub-CommitteeHearings in Los Angeles, in which theystated there was really no problem anylonger with the pesticides, and that the

: federal agents had everything under control.This testimony was sharply contridictedby the testimony of farm workers and others,(including Assemblyman Richard Alatorre,who made a personal visitation to the ran­ches in the Imperial Valley) that farmworkers have been seriously injured bypicking lettuce contaminated by Monitor-4.

It is clear to us that whatever yourmotivation' is in forming an alliance withthe Farm Bureau and the growers to runenited Farm Workers out of the fields,it is certainly not the individual good offarm workers. We urge you to Cease anddesist this gross and unjust operation.