Everett, Wash.
Published: Saturday, February 23, 2008

Recalled beef puts Snohomish County schools to work

By Kaitlin Manry
Herald Writer

 At lunchtime on Friday, Barbara Lloyd helped toss half a ton of hamburger patties, beef Rib-B-Que, beef crumbles, meatballs and country beef steak strips into the garbage piles at the Mountlake Terrace transfer station.

The meat, intended for school lunches in Edmonds, was taken from freezers as part of the nation's largest meat recall ever. Schools in Washington have until Monday to destroy the recalled beef, which came from a California slaughterhouse.

"I personally was throwing the cases," said Lloyd, food service director for the Edmonds School District. "It's a sickening feeling to watch all of this good nutrition go down the drain because something in the pipeline went wrong, but it had to be done."

Hundreds of thousands of pounds of beef are being dumped in landfills, covered with bleach or, in some cases, sent to plants that may process them into dog food or glue.

Around 70 percent of Washington school districts were hurt by the beef recall, including several districts in Snohomish and Island counties, said Skip Skinner, supervisor of predistribution for the state Office of Superintendant of Public Instruction.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recalled 143 million pounds of beef Sunday, following an investigation into the Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Co. of Chino, Calif. More than one-third of that meat was sent to school lunch programs across the country.

The agency recalled the meat after the Humane Society of the United States released video footage of workers at the plant using electric prods, forklifts and high-pressure hoses to force sick cattle to their feet for slaughter. Federal laws aimed at preventing mad cow disease prohibit humans from eating cattle that cannot walk.

No illnesses have been linked to the recalled meat, and authorities say the health threat is small.

Nonetheless, the recall has had a major impact on some local schools.

As a precaution, the Stanwood-Camano School District has eliminated beef from its menus through the end of March. In early February, when the USDA announced that a recall was possible, food service workers rushed to reconfigure menus to include protein sources such as cheese and ham pizza, turkey noodle bake, and chicken burgers, said spokeswoman Cathy Britt.

Because of the change, fewer students are buying lunch, she said.

"The kids want their beef products back," she said. "The hamburgers, the tacos, the teriyaki dippers, chili and spaghetti are some of our more popular items and kids really have been saying they want them."

Earlier this week, Stanwood-Camano food services workers destroyed 19 cases of recalled beef by dousing it with bleach and throwing it away.

Districts with more than 50 cases of recalled beef have to follow stricter rules and consult with the county health department before disposing of the meat, Skinner said.

The Mukilteo School District had so much recalled beef, it's hauling it off to a King County dump, said Suzanne Pate, spokeswoman for the Snohomish Health District in Everett.

Everett Public Schools was one of the only districts in the county to continue serving beef through the recall. Workers in each school poured bleach on one or two cases of recalled beef crumbles and BBQ ribs, while continuing to dish up beef from other sources, said Mary Waggoner, director of communications.

"We pulled those three weeks ago," she said. "We haven't had any concerns since that point. We kept beef as a safe diet choice."

The Arlington School District removed beef from the menu in early February as a precaution. On Friday, workers searched through school freezers, checking to see if meat codes and dates matched those on the recall list. By 4 p.m., they determined that none of their schools had the recalled beef.

"Beef is back in Arlington," said spokeswoman Misti Gilman. "Our high school kids are really wanting their burgers. They've been asking, 'Where's the beef?' So hopefully we'll be back on track next week."

The USDA plans to reimburse schools for the recalled beef and the costs associated with destroying it.

"There's just a lot of grief," Skinner said. "It was a tragedy and a distraction."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA