Dear Editor,

The rotten corned beef scandal is only one more example of Jamaicans getting no protection from officials they trust. It happened with rapacious bank charges, credit-stealing phone companies, and dealers who fail to honour warranties on appliances.

It is galling that while many importing countries are presently investigating Brazil’s ‘bully’ beef exporters, Jamaican officials refuse to name the company or companies that handle 95.5 per cent of the corned beef eaten by Jamaicans. At the same time they are insisting that our imported beef is clean. Says who?

GraceKennedy claims its packers are not under investigation; OK, but where do these packers get their raw material? From Brazil, of course, after which the various labels are attached.

One might ask if bully beef coming to Jamaica is so healthy why is our Government sending an inspection team to Brazil? And what expertise and authority do they have to expose what those packers want to keep hidden? I’m sure the United Kingdom and European Union investigators will do a better job.

It is noteworthy that only after the BBC and CNN broke the rotten beef story that a news release was sent from the Ministry of Health, although they appeared to have had prior information.

This sordid episode reveals three things:

a) Jamaican officials do not respect our people’s rights nor our intelligence;

b) concern for business outweighs concern for health;

c) we should eat more vegetables which is far better than corned beef.

Glen McFarlane

glenmc20@yahoo.com