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Lawmakers Call For Slaughterhouse Probe

Safety of school lunch program's meat questioned

By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com

February 15, 2008

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Some Congressional Democrats are calling for a federal investigation into the safety of meat supplied to the National School Lunch Program. The action follows release of an undercover video by the Humane Society of the United States revealed egregious abuses of cattle at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company in Chino, California.

The company had been a major supplier of meat to the school lunch program. The request for a probe is in the form of a letter sent to the U.S. Government Accountability Office by U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA), Rosa Delauro (D-CT), and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL).

"Along with all Americans who watched the Humane Society's disturbing videos, we are concerned with the mistreatment of animals at Westland Meat Co. We are writing today because of urgent concerns this incident raises about food safety in the National School Lunch Program and the implications for our children's health and well-being," the lawmakers wrote in their letter.

The Humane Society's footage showed employees using inhumane practices to force non-ambulatory cows to stand so that they would pass federal inspection in the slaughterhouse. Meat from non-ambulatory or "downer" cows presents a higher risk of E. coli, salmonella, and other dangers, and it is banned under federal law from entering the food supply.

The Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Agriculture is now investigating the company's abuses, and the company's production is currently suspended. The USDA, which oversees the National School Lunch Program, has also asked all schools to put beef products on hold until its investigation can determine whether unsafe meat entered the food supply.

Despite these steps by the USDA, the lawmakers cited serious concerns about the overall effectiveness of the federal government's effort to ensure the safety of meat on the school food supply. To date, no independent investigation has been launched into the safety of the schools' meat supply.

Miller is the chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, which has jurisdiction over school nutrition programs, and McCarthy is the chair of the panel's Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities. Delauro is the chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. Durbin is a member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee and is the author of several pieces of food safety legislation.

Plant closed

The USDA earlier ordered the closing of the Hallmark plant, after animal rights activists said they videotaped "downer" cows being prepared for slaughter.

Cows that cannot stand up are banned from the food supply because it is a primary characteristic of an animal with Mad Cow disease. The Humane Society of the U.S. says it obtained video evidence that workers at the plant repeatedly attempted to force "downed" animals onto their feet and into the human food chain.

In the video, workers are seen kicking cows, ramming them with the blades of a forklift, jabbing them in the eyes, and applying painful electrical shocks in attempts to force sick or injured animals to walk to slaughter.

School districts coast to coast and some franchise restaurants went on alert after the revelations.

"We're in contact with our suppliers, and they're in contact with their suppliers. It's a huge chain of activity," Joanne Tucker, a food services marketing coordinator for the San Diego Unified School District, told the Los Angeles Times.

Westland was named a USDA "supplier of the year" for 2004-2005 and has delivered beef to schools in 36 states. More than 100,000 schools and child-care facilities nationwide receive meat through the lunch program, according to HSUS.

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