Schools may have recieved recalled meat

More than 100 schools across the state were waiting to find out whether they had been shipped meat from a California slaughterhouse that was shut down a week ago as part of an investigation into alleged animal abuse.

Schools in New Jersey were believed to have received about 126,000 pounds of ground beef from Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. over the last two years, according to state Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Lynne Richmond.

The names of schools in New Jersey that received the beef products as part of a federal school lunch program was likely to be made public on Monday, Richmond said.

The meat was shipped from California to two processing plants in Pennsylvania and one in Ohio and sent to the schools in the form of taco filling, meatballs and beef nuggets, according to Richmond.

On Feb. 17, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from Hallmark/Westland that had been shipped from the Chino-based company dating back to Feb. 2006.

Officials said it was the largest beef recall in the United States. No illnesses have been linked to the newly recalled meat, and officials have said the health threat was likely small.

Federal officials suspended operations at Hallmark/Westland after an undercover video from the Humane Society of the United States surfaced showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts.

Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said his department has evidence that the company violated health regulations by not routinely contacting its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection.

This one is particularly scary for me. I have a younger brother and sister in NJ schools

OMG!

Very Scary