Sick cattle destined for consumption in the school lunch program and fast food restaurants were forklifted in the slaughterhouse.
Federal officials suspended operations at Westland/Hallmark after an undercover video surfaced showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts.
It is illegal to use these "downer cows" in the food supply because they are more likely to cause disease in humans than healthy cattle. However, the USDA hasn't reported any associated disease outbreaks with the recalled beef.
There is no specific information on food lots to avoid. School children have been exposed, for years, to beef products that are more likely to be contaminated than products made from healthy cattle.
The federal agency said the recall will affect beef products dating to Feb. 1, 2006, that came from Chino, California-based Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., which supplies meat to the federal school lunch program and to some major fast-food chains.
Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said his department has evidence that Westland did not routinely contact its veterinarian when cattle became non-ambulatory after passing inspection, violating health regulations.
I no longer eat any products, knowingly, that contain ground beef. Ground beef tends to get contaminated by modern processing and unhealthy cattle tend to get used in ground beef products. I have pretty much stopped eating beef and pork because the animal treatment is so horrid...and to keep my cholesterol and weight down. But this is the last straw.
Update - Edited here. It's really hard to explain how this could happen while a USDA inspector was present.
Raymond countered a claim leveled by Humane Society President and CEO Wayne Pacelle, who said a USDA inspector was at the Westland plant for about two hours each day. USDA inspectors are there at slaughterhouses "continuously," Raymond said.
The lack of effective action the USDA makes it profitable for companies to violate health and safety standards. Only when workers expose abuses by going undercover like this does the truth get out about our food. The abuse in this case has been going on since at least as far back as 2006. Finally the USDA was forced to act by a hidden video. Now the USDA is covering its proverbial ass.
"Because the cattle did not receive complete and proper inspection, Food Safety and Inspection Service has determined them to be unfit for human food and the company is conducting a recall," Schafer said in a statement.