By Jennifer Nitson
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Tuesday, February 5, 2008 12:00 am
The previous supplier is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
The Corvallis School District has contracted with new beef suppliers following last week's school lunch beef safety scare.
No beef has been served in Corvallis schools since the U.S. Department of Agriculture alerted schools across the country to problems with two of the major suppliers to the national school lunch program.
"We were immediately notified and we immediately stopped serving it," said Corvallis School District spokeswoman Jeanne Holmes.
The Corvallis School District will soon begin serving beef supplied by McDonald Wholesale Co., an Oregon-based food distributor.
"Future menu offerings will contain beef from the new suppliers and is safe to eat," said Sharon Gibson, food and nutrition services director for the Corvallis School District. "Our children's safety and nutrition are our first priority."
The school district was told on Thursday to stop serving beef from Westland Meat Co./Hallmark Meat Packing.
Just a day earlier, local high school students had the option of nachos with beef in their school cafeteria. At the city's elementary and middle school, beef has not been served since Jan. 17, Holmes said.
There have been no reported instances of school children sickened by beef in Corvallis or elsewhere in Oregon.
Westland Meat Co./Hallmark Meat Packing, which provided the meat to the Corvallis School District and to schools throughout the state, has been barred by the Department of Agriculture from supplying school lunchrooms and is under investigation. Employees at the Southern California meat packing company were caught on videotape mistreating visibly sick cows, including using a forklift in attempts to force cows that could not walk to slaughter. Federal regulations call for keeping downed cows out of the food supply because they may pose a higher risk of E. coli, salmonella or mad cow disease.
Beef from the suspect packing plant will stay in school freezers until the USDA determines whether it is safe.
"Right now we're just holding it," Holmes said. "If there were any open packages, they were disposed of."