Recalled beef pulled from local schools

By CRISTINA TRAPANI-SCOTT

Kelly Kalb of Aramark told the Clinton Community Schools Board of Education at Monday night’s regular meeting that Aramark had received some of the meat that was in question following the recent recall but it had been pulled and never served. The Clinton Community School district subcontracts with Aramark for its lunch programs in all three buildings and Kalb and Clinton Food Service Director Julie Taylor were at the meeting to give their regular quarterly report.

“Items were sent here, but not served. We pulled the beef that was sent from those distributors,” Kalb said.

Westland/Hallmark Meat Company recalled 143 million pounds of meat Sunday after videos were taken of employees forcing cows that were unable to walk or stand through to slaughter. Some of the recalled meat was sold to school lunch programs.

A letter from Steve Mendell, Westland/ Hallmark Meat Com-pany president, dated February 3, 2008, was sent out to all the company’s customers stating that he was “shocked and horrified” by what was depicted on the video, and the plant was cooperating with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) investigators and had suspended operations until the completion of the investigation.

Previous reports stated that the Humane Society of the United States released the video that was taken under cover. Federal regulation states that cows that can’t walk or stand on their own are barred from being used in the nation’s food supply. Such symptoms could be an indication of mad-cow disease.

According to the letter, the video was taken by an employee that worked at the plant from October 3 through November 14. The letter also stated that action was taken regarding the two employees who were shown on the video not following company meat handling policies. The USDA reported that most of the meat had probably been consumed, but that no illnesses have been reported.

Kalb said that the Westland/Hallmark customers were notified about the recall weeks before the press released information, giving them enough notice to pull the meat before it was served to Clinton students.

Britton-Macon Area School receives its food from Gordon’s Food Service. Supt. Chuck Pelham said that Gordon’s had contacted the district when the information on the recall was released to the public letting them know that the food company did not have any of the meat in question. “We checked into it as we found out about the recall and we are good,” he said.