The Sunnyvale Sun

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Students safe from recent recall of beef

By Emilie Crofton

The Sunnyvale School District had 12 packages of beef subject to the recent beef recall, but quick action kept it from being served to students.

"None of it got out," said Ben Picard, the district's deputy superintendent. "We are currently in the process of destroying the beef."

On Feb.17, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered a recall of143 million pounds of beef--the largest beef recall in the country's history--from Chino-based Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co.

The recall occurred after evidence surfaced of company workers' improper inspection of the meat and mistreatment of sick cows. The company supplies meat to federal school lunch programs.

Officials estimated that about 37 million pounds of the recalled beef went to school programs.

There have been no illnesses linked to the beef reported at any of the Sunnyvale district's schools, Picard said.

The Sunnyvale School District had put a hold on serving beef since Jan. 31 when school officials were first notified there could be a problem.

"Our staff was very proactive, and all is well," Picard said.

Other school districts including the Cupertino Union School District and the Fremont Union High School District took similar precautions but, after inspection, found they did not have any of the recalled beef.

The CUSD does "just-in-time" purchasing where food products are brought in on a weekly basis. That means a very limited inventory is kept at the central kitchen, said Tish Litchfield, the district's manager of student nutrition services.

"We only had three beef items on the February menu, and we just switched the beef items to chicken as a precaution," she said. "Fortunately, the recall didn't impact Cupertino schools in the way it could have."

After much inspection, the Fremont Union High School District was also not affected by the recall, according to Bill Schuster, manager of nutrition services.

"We triple-checked dates and lot numbers, and there were no problems with the beef," he said. "They were clean all the way through. We didn't have to throw any out."

Schuster added that all beef items were removed from the menu and the beef put on hold until officials cleared the meat.

"It's better to be safe than sorry."