Feb 21, 2008 2:03 pm US/Pacific
One-Third Of Recalled Calif. Beef Found In Schools
CHINO (CBS 5 / AP) ―
More than one-third of the 143 million pounds of California beef recalled last week went to school lunch programs, officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday.
About 50 million pounds of the meat from a now-closed Chino slaughterhouse went to schools, said Eric Steiner, deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service's special nutrition programs.
Of that amount, about 20 million pounds have already been eaten, 15 million pounds are on hold at storage facilities and 15 million pounds are still being traced, he said.
Officials said, however, that they still weren't able to provide the names of all the places the meat wound up.
"Sitting here today, I cannot tell you how many locations the product has gone to," said Dr. Kenneth Peterson, of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. "Our focus is identifying the locations and making sure the product is under control."
Peterson insisted the meat was safe despite the recall, which officials have called precautionary.
The USDA shut down Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. and issued the largest beef recall in history after the Humane Society of the United States released undercover video of workers kicking and shoving sick and crippled cows with electric prods, forklifts and water hoses.
The plant produces about a fifth of all the meat in the federal school lunch programs, said Bill Sessions, associate deputy administrator for livestock and seed programs with USDA's agriculture marketing service.
Two slaughterhouse workers have been fired and charged with crimes.
Luis Sanchez, 32, of Chino, surrendered to local police Wednesday and pleaded not guilty Thursday to three misdemeanors involving the illegal movement of sick or injured cattle.
Sanchez was scheduled for a Feb. 28 pretrial hearing and remained in custody in lieu of $15,000 bail, San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Debbie Ploghaus said.
Ploghaus said a county public defender was expected to represent Sanchez. A message left Thursday with the public defender's office was not immediately returned.
Co-worker Daniel Ugarte Navarro, 49, was taken into custody Saturday at his Pomona home and released Sunday on $7,500 bail. He faces five felony counts of animal abuse in addition to three misdemeanors.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
