With USDA’s announcement that it will disclose the specific names and locations of retail stores that receive recalled meat, consumers moved a step closer in their long fight for better food safety.

Prior to its July 2008 decision, the agency had kept this information secret, telling us only the states to which recalled meat was shipped, and the packer that sent the meat — little use to shoppers who needed to know which stores carried tainted meat.

Under USDA’s new policy, consumers will be informed if their supermarket received shipments of recalled beef and will be able to discard or return meat they have on hand. This will almost certainly prevent illness and could save lives — one in four Americans suffers a food borne illness every year and 5,000 people die of such infections.

The secrecy policy drew attention in late 2003, when the first U.S. case of Mad Cow disease was discovered. The cow was made into ground beef and mistakenly distributed to retailers in seven Western states. USDA refused to disclose which stores had received the beef, and states refused to disclose the retailer names because USDA forced them to sign secrecy agreements. Consumers were fearful and furious.

With pressure from Consumers Union and its activists, California passed a bill in 2004 authorizing the state to give retailer information to the public. In response, the USDA proposed changing its secrecy policy, so Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill apparently anticipating a federal policy that would cover all states.

But the USDA kept stalling on making a final decision, prompting California to again pass a law signed by the Governor in 2007.

While Californians had information about recalls – most notably the massive 2008 beef recall triggered by the videotape that downer cows were illegally being fork-lifted and prodded into a California slaughterhouse – the rest of the nation was kept in the dark about which stores sold the recalled beef.

But thousands of you kept the pressure on, writing the agency and Congress demanding that the USDA let consumers know where recalled meat was sold. As the spotlight turned on the agency’s failure to notify consumers, USDA eventually agreed to publicize retailers that receive recalled meat for Class 1 recalls (contaminants that pose an imminent hazard).

Consumers Union will keep working to improve public information about recalls. The new rule does not include Class 2 recalls nor the names of schools, nursing homes and restaurants that receive recalled meat. But activists should be proud of their work to make the marketplace safer for all consumers.