Tulsa schools now say they're affected by beef recall
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By The Associated Press
Published: February 20, 2008
TULSA — After initially saying the largest beef recall in U.S. history had not affected the Tulsa Public Schools, district officials now say that's not the case.
The school district, the largest in Oklahoma, said it has 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," district spokeswoman Tami Marler said. "No chicken-fried steak will be served until an inspector can get out there to determine exactly where it came from."
Earlier Tuesday, a statement on the Tulsa district's Web site said the district was not affected by the recall. Marler said the Tulsa school system was not notified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that the district might have received meat from a California slaughterhouse that 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. The USDA on Sunday ordered the recall of 143 million pounds of frozen beef from Westland/Hallmark.
Among the Oklahoma school districts now holding some of the recalled beef are Oklahoma City, Lawton, Broken Arrow, Enid, Muskogee, Bartlesville, Sand Springs, McAlester and Kiowa.
"Someone in our purchasing department saw the news this week about other Oklahoma school districts having recalled beef and thought, 'How could we not have it when we're the largest school district in Oklahoma?' We would never have known if we had relied on the USDA," Marler said.
She said Tulsa district administrators are trying to determine why they were not notified about the district's connection with the recalled meat.
The USDA donates meat from approved providers, such as Westland/Hallmark, to school districts as part of the National School Lunch program.
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