According to the CVUSD web site, the school district sent out the following message via the schools telephone parent notification system.
"Hello, this is Susan Hartley, Director of Child Nutrition Services for Chino Valley Unified School District. You may have seen media coverage regarding a warning to schools not to use any beef products. School districts were notified of this potential problem on Thursday and we have suspended using all beef products in question in our meals until we are certain the products we are using are safe for our students and staff. We have no reason to believe the products we have received pose a risk, but until we receive more definite information, we are suspending their use as a precautionary measure."
This was in response to charges, earlier this week, by the Humane Society of the United States. The Humane Society released shocking videos, the result of an investigation into the humane handling and food and safety practices at a slaughter plant supplying beef to schools in 36 states. Evidence was presented that "downed" cattle, animals too sick or disabled to stand, were processed for human consumption in violation of federal food protection safeguards and National School Lunch Program procurement policy, which specifically prohibits the use of meat from downed animals.
See the Humane Society Video - Warning, this video contains discomforting footage.
The investigation found that non-ambulatory animals were kicked, beaten, dragged with chains, shocked with electric prods, and pushed by forklifts in efforts to get them to their feet to pass U.S. department of Agriculture (USDA) inspection. Within hours of the release of these findings, yesterday, the USDA indefinitely suspended shipments from Westland Meat Company, the supplier in question, and launched an official investigation through the Office of the Inspector General. Noting that this firm was our nation's second-largest provider of beef to USDA's Commodity Procurement Branch, which supplies more than 100,000 schools across America, Senator Akaka on the floor of the Senate said: "The actions of this slaughterhouse, and possibly countless others, in violation of established laws, have put our most vulnerable and important assets in danger our children."
Steve Mendell, president and chief executive officer of Westland and Hallmark, the meat processing companies in question, met with USDA officials. The company released a statement in his name saying it had "taken immediate action to terminate the two employees and suspend their supervisor pending his explanation."
and is not a part of nor affiliated with the City of Chino Hills.