Recalled Beef Made It To Food Trays At Schools In The LCPS
by Ashlie Hardway
LAS CRUCES — Public School officials say students at several district schools ate some of the meat that was part of the largest nationwide recall.
Officials with the Las Cruces Public School District say they still have about 38,000 pounds of the recalled meat stored. The meat was placed on hold since February 1st and will be destroyed, they said.
“We were able to keep most of our menu intact,” said Nancy Cathey, the director of food services for the district. “However, we still had some hamburger patties that were safe to use.”
Cathey said it took about five days for the district to pull out all of the recalled beef. “It’ll all be destroyed at some point and no children will have any chance of being exposed to it,” she said.
Despite the new security measures, Cathey said some of the recalled meat dates back as 2006 and did make it onto student’s food trays. “If we would have known at that time, it would not have been used,” she said. Cathey said no students ever reported getting sick because of eating the recalled beef.
The district is waiting to see if it will be reimbursed the nearly $60,000 they spent for the beef – which must now be destroyed. “That’s what we’re waiting for, to see if the USDA is going to pick it up or if we’re going to have to self-destroy.”
Officials with the Gadsden School District said they have already removed 750 cases of hamburger meat from distribution to their cafeterias.
Both the El Paso Independent School District and the Socorro Independent School District report having cases of the recalled meat. They say those supplies are in now storage and will not be used.
