Local schools affected by beef recall

At least eight Flathead school districts received beef products that were part of the largest meat recall in the history of the United States Department of Agriculture.

On Sunday, the federal agency recalled 143 million pounds of beef products from Chino, Calif.-based slaughterhouse Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.

About 50 million pounds of meat was distributed to schools as part of the national school lunch program, with at least 20 million pounds consumed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday.

About 200 Montana schools were affected, according to Tara Jensen, communications director with the state Office of Public Instruction.

In late January, state education offices placed a hold on all meat products from Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. The hold came shortly after the Humane Society of the United States released a video from an undercover investigation showing crippled and sick animals at the slaughterhouse being shoved with forklifts.

Federal regulations discourage slaughterhouses from processing "downer cows" into meat because they may pose a higher risk of contamination from E. coli, salmonella or mad cow disease.

No school has reported any of its students getting sick from eating the beef that was served before the hold.

"It's a low risk," Bigfork schools' food-service director Judy Kinyon said. "I don't think anybody will be affected by getting ill from it. That's what [OPI is] passing on to us."

BIGFORK, Columbia Falls, Evergreen, Kalispell, Kila, Marion, Somers, Swan River and Whitefish school districts were notified of the hold, Jensen said. Evergreen's kitchen prepares meals for West Valley and Helena Flats schools, and Kila serves Smith Valley in addition to its own students.

Kila does not purchase meat from Westland/Hallmark, however, and did not receive any contaminated beef. Swan River School wasn't impacted either, lunch room manager Linda Stewart said; the hold came before any suspect beef was delivered to the school.

About three weeks after the hold was issued, USDA announced the recall. Some schools already had served the beef before they were notified of the hold.

"We had already used up the meat awhile ago," Evergreen food-service director Joan Jetsen said.

Marion School also was notified too late, cook Linda Boutilier said.

"They called me today and wanted to know if we had any of the beef left," she said in a phone interview on Wednesday. "We used the last of it the day before the thing came out."

Somers and Whitefish served small portions of the beef before they were notified of the hold.

Robin Vogler, Somers food-service director, served about half of her five cases of hamburger patties - about 370 individual patties - before the hold. Whitefish served about the same amount, Superintendent Jerry House said.

Since the hold, Whitefish has kept the meat isolated from the rest of its food supplies, he said. On Wednesday, the district received notice that they could destroy the remaining cases as soon as proper verification forms arrived from USDA.

Whitefish will send its contaminated meat to the Flathead County landfill, House said.

Somers soon will destroy its recalled beef as well.

"I'm getting rid of every bit that I still have left," Vogler said.

Customers who received large quantities of meat would have to incinerate it, she said. For smaller customers, such as Somers, "it has to be ripped apart and tossed in the Dumpster … so no one is tempted to go in after it."

OTHER SCHOOLS are waiting to hear what they should do with their recalled beef.

"School District 5 is waiting … for further information on how we need to handle this," food-services director Bertha Morrison said. "We don't know if it's going to be handled locally or if the Office of Public Instruction is getting a truck together or if each school needs to properly dispose of the ground beef."

Kalispell Public Schools received 64 cases of ground beef in November, she said. The district never used those cases; they were still frozen when the hold was issued in January.

In early February, the district received another 64 cases of ground beef.

"We refused them," Morrison said. "They did not even dock them on us. [Those] 64 cases went back to the state office."

Bigfork also refused a shipment of recalled meat, Kinyon said.

"It stayed right on the truck and went back," she said.

Instead of beef, some cafeterias are serving other meats. Whitefish substituted chicken sandwiches for a scheduled hamburger day, House said.

The districts do have other beef suppliers, however. Most districts named Food Services of America or Cisco as vendors.

"They have assured us that it's safe beef, not from the supposedly contaminated company," House said.

Vogler said she hopes to buy more Montana beef products.

"I want to find people that I can buy from locally," she said. "At least I will know it was properly cared for and slaughtered humanely."

Some districts aren't yet sure how buying other beef products will impact their budgets. OPI still is working with USDA to figure out how schools will be reimbursed, Jensen said.

"I don't know if they have more in their inventory that they can ship immediately, or if we'll have to buy elsewhere until it's all cleared," Kinyon said.

The recall may impact next year's food orders.

Vogler places orders with USDA six months in advance. She had just submitted her order for next fall when the recall occurred.

Vogler said she immediately canceled her beef order but still ordered cheese, produce and some chicken and pork products from the USDA commodity program.

"I'm pretty flabbergasted by this whole thing," she said. "Obviously I don't want people to worry about what their kids are eating."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com