Districts take steps to remove recalled beef

Officials in the several Bucks County districts among those in the state to receive recalled beef said Wednesday they've since removed the meat from their menus, or held it in storage facilities.

In most districts, that was done before anyone ate the beef. Administrators also are exploring other suppliers to replace the beef products.

"We've already ordered all new products from other companies," said Morrisville Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson. "All of the meat was picked up today by U.S. Foodservice and [none of that meat] was used here for several weeks."

About 190 districts in the state received meat that's part of a national beef recall by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, officials said this week.

Besides Morrisville, Abington, Bensalem, Pennsbury, Philadelphia and Quakertown school districts and Woods Services received recalled beef products through the National School Lunch program, administrators said.

On Sunday, Hallmark/Westland Meat Packaging Co. of Chino, Calif., voluntarily recalled 143 million pounds of raw and frozen beef products. It's the nation's largest beef recall ever, officials said.

The recall stems from a widening animal abuse scandal that started after the Humane Society of the United States distributed an undercover video on Jan. 30 that showed workers kicking sick cows and using forklifts to force them to walk, according to online reports.

The video raised questions about the safety of the meat because cows that cannot walk, called downer cows, pose an added risk of diseases including mad cow disease. The federal government has banned downer cows from the food supply.

Agriculture officials said there was little health risk from the recalled meat because the animals had already passed pre-slaughter inspection and much of the meat had already been eaten. In addition, the officials noted that while mad cow disease was extremely rare, the brains and spinal cords from the animals — the area most likely to harbor the disease — would not have entered the human food chain.

Still, the state Department of Education advised schools to check their inventories.