New Law Blogs

Beef Missing in Hallmark/Westland Recall

By Pritzker | Ruohonen

Officials from the USDA report that there is still a massive amount of beef which has yet to be found in relation to the recall of 143 million pounds of beef produced by the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co.  50.3 million pounds of the beef was used in federal food programs, which includes the school lunch program.  Of the beef used for federal programs, 19.6 million pounds is said to have already been consumed, with 15.2 million pounds identified and put aside.

However, officials report that 15.5 million pounds of the recalled beef has yet been found. The USDA has extended the recall to any products that may have the beef mixed in, which could include items such as spaghetti sauce and canned ravioli.

According to USA Today,

ConAgra Foods said it had not yet removed any product and was "looking into how or if" Sunday's recall affects the company.

The recalled products include meat processed for the past two years. The USDA said earlier that it believed most of it has already been consumed. In recent years, the Westland plant produced about 20% of the ground meat in the federal school lunch programs.

The beef has been recalled because investigation into practices at Hallmark/Westland revealed inhumane treatment of cattle, specifically the slaughtering of “downer” cattle, those that cannot walk.  The introduction of downer cattle into the food supply elevates risk for the spread of mad cow disease.  There have been no reports of illness related to the recall and the USDA states that there is a low risk level associated with the recalled products.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on February 23, 2008 (boomark / email).