Sonoma County schools stop serving beef

Eight thousand pounds of beef destined for school lunch tables across Santa Rosa was on ice Monday as officials continued to try to ease concerns over the safety of the food.

Countless more schools across Sonoma County and the nation refused to serve beef amid allegations that a Southern California meat processor abused animals and forced sickly cattle into the slaughterhouse.

"We are staying away from beef right now," said Cathy Luellen-Aflague, director of food services for Santa Rosa City Schools, which serves about 14,000 meals a day.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which last week issued a 10-day hold on all beef from Westland Meat Co. in Chino, is treating the issue as a humane handling investigation, not a food safety issue.

It is unclear how much -- if any -- of the beef in question is in school freezers in Sonoma County. Beef is considered harder to track than other food products because it goes through multiple processors before arriving at schools.

"We are serving no red meat until we hear," said Steve Jorgensen, assistant superintendent of West Sonoma County Union High School District.

Jorgensen and Santa Rosa school officials said there were no reports of illness associated with the beef. Schools have been serving beef from the national program -- and potentially from Westland -- for months.

Not all beef served in school lunches passes through Westland, but the California School Nutrition Association has recommended no beef be served to allay fears among students and parents.

"My recommendation is that they pull everything because our consumer doesn't know the difference," said Stephanie Bruce, president-elect of California School Nutrition Association.

In addition to the National School Lunch Program, Westland also provided food to the Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Food Distribution Program on Indian reservations. The USDA's contract with Westland was suspended last week.

Concerns were raised Wednesday after the Humane Society of the United States released a video allegedly depicting Westland employees abusing so-called downer cows that were unable to stand on their own.

Downer cows are considered more likely to carry disease or spread fecal matter into the food chain.

The state Department of Education on Thursday urged schools to stop serving all but a few beef products that were determined not to have been processed by Westland.

The hold was issued by school officials for Friday's food service, but six Santa Rosa campuses didn't get the message. District officials met Friday to address the communication failure.

You can reach Staff Writer Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.

com.