The Palo Alto Unified School District has removed meat from its central kitchen that was part of the recent recall prompted by allegations of animal abuse at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company in Chino, Calif.

According to PAUSD Food Coordinator Gary Lynch, about 25 hamburger patties made by Dunlee Meat Company were thrown away after the district received an administrative hold notice from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Jan. 31.

The administrative hold named Dunlee as a secondary distributor of Westland/Hallmark beef. Westland/Hallmark sold the meat to Dunlee, which sold it to public school districts like the PAUSD. Lynch said that no beef from the destroyed case had been sold to district students.

The USDA issued placed Westland/Hallmark on an administrative hold as a distributor public school lunch programs because “potential violations of regulatory requirements and contractual terms as a supplier of products to the Federal food and nutrition programs”, according to the USDA’s web page about the investigation.

Lynch said that all beef products have been removed from district menus until the USDA finishes its investigation into allegations that Westland /Hallmark abused cows that were unable to walk before slaughtering them. Slaughtering non-ambulatory cattle slightly increases the risk of disease in the food supply, but no cases of illness have yet been linked to the recalled Westland/Hallmark meat.

“I don’t want to take any chances,” Lynch said.

On Jan. 30, Humane Society of the United States released this video (warning: it is graphic): (http://tinyurl.com/38w9hz). It shows cattle that appear to be unable walk being forced to their feet with forklifts, hoses and electric shocks. The Humane Society said that the video was taken in October 2007 by two of its investigators posing as Westland/Hallmark employees.

The USDA said on its Web site that Westland/Hallmark voluntary suspended production on Feb. 1 as the USDA investigated the Humane Society’s claims. Three days later, the USDA’S Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a Notice of Suspension because of Westland/Hallmark’s “failure to maintain and implement controls to prevent the inhumane handling and slaughter of animals” as required by the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.

On Feb. 17, Westland/Hallmark initiated a voluntary recall of 143 million pounds of meat that it had produced between February 2006 and January 2008, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture determined it to be unsafe under the provisions of the Food Safety and Inspection Services Act. In the days after the recall notice, the USDA estimated that 37 million pounds of that beef had been distributed to public school lunch programs nationwide and suspended two federal inspectors who worked at the Westland/Hallmark plant.