Jeffco schools say bye-bye to beef that is part of largest U.S. recall

By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 29, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.
Updated February 29, 2008 at 1:13 a.m.

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Photo by George Kochaniec Jr. / The Rocky

Jefferson County Schools warehouse worker Doug Cone throws 5-pound bags of recalled meat into a dumpster Thursday morning. The storage facility disposed of 12,000 pounds of meat supplied by the Chino, Calif.-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.

Lunch for tens of thousands of Jefferson County schoolchildren won't include 400 cases of frozen beef, which were disposed of Thursday morning.

Colorado's largest school district had bought some of the 143 million pounds of frozen beef recalled from Chino, Calif.-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co.

Jeffco warehouse staff threw the meat in dumpsters, said district spokeswoman Melissa Reeves.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued the recall Feb. 17.

Westland/Hallmark supplies meat to the federal school lunch program.

The largest beef recall in the nation's history is considered a less serious health risk than some other large recalls in recent years.

It stemmed from charges that animals were mistreated by workers at the Westland/Hallmark plant and the worry that company inspectors didn't carefully examine animals that might be deemed to be ill before they were slaughtered and put into the human food chain.

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