Mass Meat Recall Leaves Manhattan Schools With Beef

Lunches with fewer hamburgers and meatballs may not have caused much of a stir at New York City public schools, but a recall on beef across the country may have serious implications for a meatpacking company based in Chino, Calif.

A video released by the Humane Society of the United Stateson Jan. 30 spurred what has become the largest beef recall in U.S. history, including 37 million pounds of beef at public schools across the country and in New York City schools.

The video, revealed along with weeks’ worth of undercover investigation by the HSUS, shows employees at California’s Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company prodding, kicking, and using forklifts to move cows unable to walk. Slaughtering such cows, known as “downers” or “non-ambulatory” animals within the industry, for human consumption is prohibited because of their increased risk for mad cow disease.

News of a “hold” on beef prompted the New Yory City’s Department of Education to “take it upon ourselves as a precaution to stop serving hamburgers,” a spokesperson for the department said in an e-mail. This meat, part of the National School Lunch Program, has been removed from schools and destroyed, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture statement.

SchoolFood, a branch of the DOE, received notice of the recall Sunday. Beef from Hallmark/Westland is provided free of cost to the schools by the USDA, and makes up about 25 percent of the beef served in New York City public school cafeterias.

Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said in a press release that he was “dismayed” at the Humane Society’s findings. Complaints against the slaughter plant include Hallmark/Westland’s failure to alert USDA inspectors when cows became non-ambulatory after having passed previous inspections.

HSUS President and CEO Wayne Pacelle announced publicly that the recall was “staggering” in size. “It’s bad for animals, bad for consumers, and bad for business to have slipshod enforcement and porous laws when it comes to handling animals at slaughter plants,” he said.

Officials noted that the chance of negative effect on humans from the meat is low. There are several stages of safeguards against mad cow disease and other problems. Most of the meat has by now been consumed, and no recent health complaints related to the beef have been filed.

Schafer said that although it is “extremely unlikely” that the cows in question were at a high risk for mad cow disease, the recall “is necessary because plant procedures violated USDA regulations.”

The California slaughter plant has been shut down indefinitely, and the USDA is conducting further investigations into the situation. Two Hallmark/Westland employees, Daniel Ugarte Navarro and Jose Luis Sanchez, are facing felony and misdemeanor charges brought by San Bernardino County. The HSUS has called upon Congress and the USDA to work towards enacting stricter laws to strengthen humane handling procedures.

alicia.outing@columbiaspectator.com