Two Minutes

A veterinarian and former presidential appointee who 'did the right thing'

Less than a week after his appointment as deputy undersecretary for food safety at the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., Dr. Scott Hurd found himself with a hard choice. But it wasn't really a choice at all.

Global mess: In charge of implementing inspection and humane slaughter regulations, Hurd found himself in the middle of a global mess that included secretly taped cattle video that aired on TV news and went viral on the Internet.

The White House needed to know what the USDA planned to do about it. It was Hurd's job to break the news.

White House conversation: "I told the White House we were going to do a recall of all meat from that packer for the past two years," Hurd said. An expensive proposal. Very expensive. How would the White House react?

"Do the right thing," he was told.

Massive meat recall: With the blessing of the White House, Hurd and his staff implemented the largest meat recall in history -- more than 140 million pounds.

When Hurd came back to his job as associate professor of veterinary diagnostic and production animal medicine at the College of Veterinary Medicine, he had a newfound respect for his profession.

Protecting public health: "Now I realize our society depends on veterinarians to make sure that meat they are eating is safe. It is an area that's been overlooked. Most veterinarians don't realize their importance in protecting public health," he said.

-- Dan Kuester