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Beef recall not adversely affecting Oklahoma schoolsOKLAHOMA CITY (AP)--Other than a few changes to menus, the largest recall of beef in U.S. history is not having a significant effect on Oklahoma school systems, officials said Feb. 19. While at least three dozen school systems in the state have received shipments of the recalled meat, which must be destroyed, the financial effect of the recall on the systems figures to be minimal, officials from three of the state's larger districts said. "If we are never reimbursed, we will be out $2,500," Broken Arrow Public Schools spokesman Keith Isbell said. "It's a small price to pay with the nature of what we're talking about." Enid Public Schools food service director Benny Bunch and Oklahoma City Public Schools spokesman Kathleen Kennedy echoed those sentiments. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Feb. 17 ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse that provided meat to school lunch programs. The slaughterhouse is the subject of an animal-abuse investigation. Undercover video taken at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., of Chino, Calif., shows workers shocking, kicking and shoving debilitated cattle with forklifts. Agriculture officials estimate that about 37 million pounds of the recalled beef went to school programs around the nation, but they believe most of the meat probably has already been eaten. But some of it remains in school freezers. Among the Oklahoma districts now holding some of the recalled beef are Oklahoma City, Lawton, Broken Arrow, Enid, Muskogee, Bartlesville, Sand Springs, McAlester and Kiowa. Tulsa Public Schools officials pulled 137 cases of chicken-fried steaks from its food inventory. "Most of it is in cold storage at TPS or at the (meat) processor, but some of it was in the process of being delivered or was delivered to schools," said TPS spokeswoman Tami Marler. "No chicken-fried steak will be served until an inspector can get out there to determine exactly where it came from." Initially, the district said it wasn't affected by the recall. Broken Arrow schools have 41 1/4 cases of the beef remaining in inventory, Isbell said. A case represents 40 pounds. Isbell said the latest shipment of the beef arrived at Broken Arrow in November, "and it was put in the back of the freezer at that time." He said a previous shipment of the recalled beef, which arrived in August, already had been used. Bunch said Enid schools have about 36 1/2 cases of the recalled beef, but "we had some other meat in the freezer from another manufacturer--it's not like we're going to have to shut down. It may alter what we do at the end of school (with menus) a little bit." Kennedy said it's not known how much of the recalled beef is in Oklahoma City school freezers. She said the district, which uses 25,000 pounds per month of beef, put its entire beef supply on hold two weeks ago. In the interim, the district substituted chicken or fish in menus until it could find an alternate vendor to supply new beef. "It was a minor inconvenience, but we were prepared in advance, so it hasn't had that big of an impact on us," Kennedy said. "That's been one of the bright spots in all this." An Oklahoma processing company also has become a part of the story surrounding the massive recall. Some of the beef from Westland/Hallmark was shipped to Advance Food Co., of Enid as a part of the commodity products that Advance Food produces, Advance Food vice president Brian Hayden said. That included different varieties of fully cooked burgers, cooked Salisbury steaks, cooked meatloaf and meatballs. The USDA donates meat to schools as part of the National School Lunch program, and the schools contract with processors, like Advance Food, to process the meat. Hayden said Advance Food provides processing services for 36 school districts in Oklahoma. Fortunately, Advance Food also has other meat suppliers besides Westland/Hallmark, he said, allowing the company to continue to meet the needs of school districts. "We've tried to be a solution for the schools," Hayden said. "We're in the middle of it because of the processing relationship we play, but we have tried to be as helpful to the schools as we can and provide them with replacement product that does not have Westland meat in it." 3/10/08 Date: 3/6/08 Advertisement
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