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VALLEJO (CBS 5 / AP) ― The Vallejo Unified School District will destroy 20 cases of frozen beef received from a Chino-based meat company that issued a Class II nationwide recall Sunday, school district spokesman Jason Hodge said Monday morning.

The school had about 100 cases of frozen beef on hand when an administrative hold on Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. beef was issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Jan. 30. All beef was pulled from Vallejo school menus until officials could verify how many of the containers were received specifically from Westland, district spokesman Jason Hodge said.

The USDA notified the district last week that it is in possession of 20 cases of beef from Westland, Hodge said.

According to the USDA, on Sunday, Westland voluntarily recalled more than 143 million pounds of raw and frozen beef produced between Feb. 1, 2006, and Feb. 2, 2008, and bearing the USDA establishment No. "EST. 336." Products were sold in bulk and have not been available for direct purchase, the USDA reported.

Vallejo school district officials announced Monday morning the district will destroy its 20 cases received from Westland under direction from the USDA. No illnesses have been reported in the Vallejo School District in relation to the Westland beef products, according to Hodge.

The district's remaining cases of beef that were unconnected to the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. were approved for use on school menus, Hodge said. The school district will continue to receive new cases of meat from other companies, Hodge said.

The beef from Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. was being provided to school lunch programs across the country. The company has been suspended indefinitely as a supplier to federal food and nutrition programs and will not produce or deliver any products under contract, according to the USDA.

An investigation into the company began when the Humane Society of the United States released film Jan. 30 showing downed and nearly lifeless cows allegedly being subjected to repeated electric shocks, tail twisting, shackling and dragging, ramming by fork lifts and high pressure water hosing in the mouth and nose to simulate drowning.

The recall was issued Sunday following a Food Safety and Inspection Service investigation into the meat company that determined some beef products were "unfit for human food because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection," according to the recall release issued by the USDA.

According to the USDA, cattle that become non-ambulatory after pre-slaughter inspections are to be reassessed by FSIS public health veterinarians before being slaughtered. Those cattle are either kept from entering the food supply or are tagged as "suspect." Suspect cattle are then more thoroughly inspected after slaughter, according to the USDA.

The recall was designated as a Class II recall because there is a "remote possibility that the beef being recalled would cause adverse health effects if consumed," the recall notice read. The public health risk has been deemed low.

An investigation into the company will continue, the USDA reported.

"I am dismayed at the inhumane handling of cattle that has resulted in the violation of food safety regulations at the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Company," Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said in a statement.

A congresswoman who chairs a House subcommittee that determines funding levels for the USDA sent a letter Monday to the USDA's undersecretary for food safety demanding answers to specific questions on the Westland case before a March 5 budgetary review hearing.
Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, called the video inhumane and said she was concerned it "demonstrates just how far our food safety system has collapsed."

DeLauro, D-Conn., has also called for a independent investigation into the government's ability to secure the safety of meat in the nation's schools. Westland was a major supplier of beef for the National School Lunch Program.

DeLauro asked Undersecretary Dick Raymond to list schools that could have received the recalled meat, as well as provide an explanation of where the meat was sold commercially and whether it was mixed with beef from other processors.

She also asked how the agency was addressing staff shortages among slaughterhouse inspectors—an issue also raised by several food safety experts and watchdog groups Monday.

Anywhere from 7 percent to 21 percent of inspector positions were left vacant by the USDA depending on the district, said Felicia Nestor, a senior policy analyst with Washington, D.C.-based Food and Water Watch.

"They just don't fill vacancies," Nestor said. "The agency ... is telling consumers we have enough inspectors in these plants to go out and be doing these checks and they don't and they refuse to keep records of it."

USDA spokesman Keith Williams said the agency did not have a shortage of inspectors.

He said his department has evidence that Westland did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection, violating health regulations.

Williams said the recall was done primarily to revoke the USDA's seal of inspection for the meat—not because of the risk of illness.

"Everybody's going, 'Oh, a recall, that means death, that means sickness.' That's a different kind of issue," Williams said. "This is a lower severity, where there would be a remote probability of sickness."

A phone message left for Westland president Steve Mendell was not returned Monday.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Tom Harkin said the sentator's Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry would take up several unspecified food safety issues after it finishes rewriting a farm bill.

"What we're concerned with is that the current set of regulations is not being enforced," said Kate Cyrul, a spokeswoman for Harkin, D-Iowa. "These regulations exist for a reason."

Agriculture officials said the massive recall surpasses a 1999 ban of 35 million pounds of ready-to-eat meats. No illnesses have been linked to the newly recalled meat, and officials said the health threat was likely small.

Officials estimate that about 37 million pounds of the recalled beef went to school programs, but they believe most of the meat probably has already been eaten.

"We don't know how much product is out there right now. We don't think there is a health hazard, but we do have to take this action," said Raymond, the USDA undersecretary.

Two former Westland employees were charged Friday. Five felony counts of animal cruelty and three misdemeanors were filed against a pen manager. Three misdemeanor counts—illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal—were filed against an employee who worked under that manager. Both were fired.

Authorities said the video showed workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing "downer" animals that were apparently too sick or injured to walk into the slaughterhouse. Some animals had water forced down their throats, San Bernardino County prosecutor Michael Ramos said.

No charges have been filed against Westland, but an investigation by federal authorities continues.

In addition to Vallejo, about 150 school districts around the nation have stopped using ground beef from Hallmark Meat Packing Co., which is associated with Westland. Two fast-food chains, Jack-In-the-Box and In-N-Out, said they would not use beef from Westland/Hallmark.

Most of the beef was sent to distribution centers in bulk packages. The USDA said it will work with distributors to determine how much meat remains.

A coalition of advocacy groups called on the agency Monday to enact a rule change proposed in 2006 that would allow consumers to track where tainted beef was sold.

"At this point, when they have a recall, what they put on the Web site is the states the meat went to and the lot numbers," said Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union. "That's not very helpful to the ordinary consumer."

Federal regulations call for keeping downed cattle out of the food supply because they may pose a higher risk of contamination from E. coli, salmonella or mad cow disease since they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems are often weak.

A complete list of the items recalled is available online at http://www.usda.gov. Consumers with food safety questions can contact the Food Safety and Inspection Service virtual representative at http://www.AskKaren.gov.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)