Recalled beef reportedly sent to all school districts in county
The list includes the El Campo, Louise, Wharton, Boling and East Bernard school districts.
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

Every school district in Wharton County was included in a list released Thursday of school districts and local agencies affected by the nation's largest beef recall.

Under pressure from Congress, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a list of "school food authorities" - - responsible for distributing food to the national school lunch program -- that got beef included in last month's recall of 143 million pounds of meat from a California slaughterhouse

The list includes the El Campo, Louise, Wharton, Boling and East Bernard school districts.

The recall applied to beef slaughtered at the Hallmark/ Westland Meat Packing Co. of Chino, Calif., since Feb. 1, 2006. USDA officials have said the recalled beef, triggered by violations documented in undercover videos from the Humane Society of the United States, is unlikely to pose health risks.

Mark Pool, El Campo ISD superintendent, said in February the district already knew a recall was in the works, and pulled all of the company's products from its inventory at that time.

When the recall notice came, Louise ISD Superintendent Andy Peters said his district didn't have any Westland meat, but had been receiving notices on the bad meat and double checking its inventories. He noted some of the recalled meats were 3 years old, but the district doesn't keep anything in its freezers for more than six months.

"Our records indicated that we received three cases long before the recall," Peters said. "We served the meat during the week that we received it. Therefore, when the recall came out, we had none available.

"One thing I was told was that if cooked properly, the meat wouldn't be a problem." And Peters said, adding the district does not undercook meat.

Before the USDA announced the recall, Texas officials already had taken precautions.

About 14,850 cases of ground beef were pulled off the shelves by Texas school districts after the government announced in late January they were investigating the company, Texas Department of Agriculture spokesman Bryan Black said at the time of the recall.

The USDA said there was only a remote possibility that the recalled beef from Hallmark could make people sick. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said it was "extremely unlikely" that any cattle processed at the plant were suffering from mad cow disease.