March 4, 2008 — The largest recall of beef products in U.S. history has touched the California Correctional Center in Susanville. According to a press release from CCC, the California Prison Industry Authority received a recall notification letter from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Company in Chino, Calif.

According to the recall letter, the United States Department of Agriculture classified raw and frozen meat from the company as a Class II product recall. The recall covered all the beef products processed by the company since Feb. 1, 2006.

A Class II product recall is defined as being, “A health hazard situation where there is a remote probability of adverse health consequences from the use of this product.”

According to the release from CCC, the institution “complied to the recall and returned 3,866 pounds of breakfast links, soy/beef patties, soy/beef bulk, and Salisbury patties.”

Correctional Lt. Scott Porter, an administrative assistant at CCC, said the institution investigated its food inventories once the recall letter was received, and the food was removed from the prison.

“When we discovered we had food on the recall list, we immediately sent it back,” Porter said.

According to a Feb. 18, story in the New York Times, Westland/Hallmark recalled 143 million pounds of beef products, including some that were used in school lunch programs.

The investigation into the plant’s food-processing practices began when an undercover video surfaced on Jan. 30, showing workers kicking sick cows and using forklifts to force them to walk.

According to the New York Times, “Agriculture officials said there was little health risk from the recalled meat because the animals had already passed pre-slaughter inspection and much of the meat had already been eaten.”

According to the USDA’s Web site, the federal agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a notice of suspension on Feb. 4, based on the meat company’s “failure to maintain and implement controls to prevent the inhumane handling and slaughter of animals at the facility required by USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service regulations and the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act … The suspension will remain in effect and the plant will be unable to operate until written corrective actions are submitted and verified by FSIS to ensure that animals are handled and slaughtered humanely.”

According to the Web site cattlenetwork.com, other retail food companies also are being snared in the recall because they use beef products processed by the Chino company and were pulling “tens of thousands” of cases of products off store shelves “because they contain beef from suppliers that themselves were supplied by Hallmark/Westland.

The Web site economist.com reported, “The agriculture department says there is no cause for alarm. Most of the meat was eaten long ago, and no one is known to have been made ill by it. But it is an additional blow to an industry with more than its share of troubles.”

The Westland/Hallmark Meat Company’s recall notification letter, dated Feb. 22, said the Chino facility is “voluntarily recalling all raw/frozen beef products because the product may contain foreign material/non-microbial contamination.”

The recall implicates “all products produced by this establishment #336 from Feb. 1, 2006 up to and including Feb. 15, 2008.”

The company listed the following brands as being subject to the recall: Regal Brand, Westland Brand, Hallmark Brand and King Meat Brand Establishment #336.