So on the question of lion meat regulation in the US, two of the most influential people in wildlife conservation delivered the verbal equivalent of a weary shrug.
Enforcement of meat regulation largely falls to local authorities and Rotherham council's budget was being severely strained by what had become a major criminal investigation costing it over £500,000.
The plants were among the first 15 to be examined as part of a series of investigations into possible safety lapses and misconduct in meat regulation in New York and northern New Jersey, said Thomas J. Billy, the administrator of the department's Food Safety and Inspection Service.
Dr Shuja Shafi, deputy secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said while the FSA had been swift in acting on the horse meat issue, it had been "lamentably slow in acting on halal meat regulation".
Peter Boddy, 65, was fined £8,000 after admitting one count of failing to abide by EU meat traceability regulations.
Under industry influence the administration has declined to adopt meat safety regulations readied for action at the end of the Clinton era.
Each year, more than 167 million pigs in the European Union (EU) are tested for Trichinella spp. under the current meat hygiene regulations.
"The whole point of meat safety regulation is to prevent these problems before they turn into massive recalls".
Federal and Congressional investigators are examining possible lapses and misconduct in meat safety regulation in New York and New Jersey, federal officials say.
Be it a battle on Fracking, Social Security, Environmental pollution regulations, meat production regulation and standards, or minimum wage, each is countered by powerful money laden lobbies, dwarfing any influence from the general citizenry, thus significantly tilting the scale in their favor.
