Jackson schools had cases of recalled beef; none served

One hundred cases of beef shipped to the Jackson School District have been recalled, but none of the meat was served to students, superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson said Wednesday. The Cape Girardeau and Scott City school districts were not affected by the recall.

On Sunday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ordered the largest ever beef recall in the United States, 143 million pounds, according to The Associated Press. The meat in question came from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino, Calif. The AP reported the slaughterhouse's pen manager has been charged with five felony counts of animal cruelty for abusing sickly animals and violating health regulations.

Liz Aufdenberg, Jackson's director of food services, said 3,000 pounds of the district's spaghetti sauce and taco meat were affected by the recall. She said she was notified two weeks ago by the state of the two lot numbers to pull. None of the meat had been served to students, she said, and there have been no reports nationwide of illness associated with the meat.

"We have it marked and in a different freezer so that no one can get ahold of it," Aufdenberg said. She said the district is waiting for instructions on how to dispose of the meat.

The district receives the meat through a commodity program, but "we have to pay for processing it into how we like it," Aufdenberg said. She did not know Wednesday how much had been spent on the spaghetti sauce and taco meat, but said she expects the district to be reimbursed.

Neither the Cape Girardeau or Scott City school districts received any shipments of the affected meat. "We checked them all and did not have any," said Lisa Elfrink, Cape Girardeau's food services director.

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