Following the numerous requests it has received from Congress and various consumer groups, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the listing of retail stores receiving poultry and meat products that fall under Class I recall cases.

Earlier this year, the USDA refused to disclose information regarding which stores and schools have commercialized and used the beef that was recalled by Westland/Hallmark Meat, as it didn’t want to raise any privacy problems.

Westland/Hallmark had to recall 143 million pounds of potentially vitiated meat. This entire situation started a few weeks after the Humane Society released undercover video footage showing company workers forcing sick animals to stand up and pass the sanitary inspection. According to the current laws, a USDA vetenarian must perform a full check up on every downer cow in order to ensure the animal’s good health state. Back in 2003, the government implemented a rule that associated a cow’s inability to walk with the mad-cow disease, thus barring the use of such animals for the food supply.

Although the Westland/Hallmark recall was the biggest meat recall ever recorded in US history, it was only considered to be a Class II case. Even though the information could have been very valuable to consumers, the USDA did not release the names of the retailers who had received and commercialized the potentially tainted meat.

The USDA has had a change of heart these days, thus taking the decision to publish the names of retailers, but only in Class I cases, which represent the situations with the highest risk to public health.

Not everyone is completely happy with USDA’s plans, as transparency is requested for Class II cases as well. Whether or not this will happen, remains to be seen.