meat-recall information kept hidden by Allison Sherry and David Migoya, Denver Post - August 07, 2002 It was difficult or impossible for Americans to find out where E. coli- contaminated meat was shipped in recent weeks because federal law protects company secrets. Consumers were left even more vulnerable because of disjointed communication among government agencies that are supposed to protect them. Those lapses put more than a week between the day 354,200 pounds of beef were recalled and the time some consumers found out about it. One Douglas County teenager was sickened by ConAgra meat in that period. Responding to what happened in Colorado, the state, ConAgra and a grocery chain have taken steps to better inform the public next time there's a recall. "We would be more proactive and react on it quicker because of this experience," said Patti Klocker, assistant director for consumer protection at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. "We could have given the heads-up to the consumers a little quicker." http://www.disinfo.com/pages/article/id2529/pg1/