Recalled beef sent to more than 170 N.J. districts No children have been reported ill from the 168,000 pounds of ground meat Tuesday, February 26, 2008 • BY TED SHERMAN AND JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger Staff New Jersey schools that received hamburger patties, barbecue nuggets, taco meat and other lunch items traced back to the nation's largest meat recall must inform state officials by today whether they still retain any inventory of the tainted beef. The state Department of Agriculture yesterday identified more than 170 school districts that received meat products from three processing plants supplied by the California packing plant -- now the focus of a federal investigation -- and any remaining beef must be destroyed within two weeks. The scope of the schools affected was unprecedented, cutting a wide swath across the state, including urban, suburban and parochial schools -- from Atlantic City to Allamuchy, as well as at least one Newark daycare center. (The full list was posted at the department's website at nj.gov/agriculture/pdf/beefrecalllist.pdf.) Agriculture Commissioner Charles Kuperus said there have been no reports of any children becoming sick from eating food products linked to the company. The frozen packages were delivered -- and assumed to have been consumed -- as long as two years ago. According to the department, 168,000 pounds of ground beef from Hallmark/Westland Meat Co., of Chino, Calif., came into the state between February 2006 and this month from three major processing plants identified as suppliers to New Jersey schools through the National School Lunch Program. Phillip Gambutti, who heads the agriculture department's food division, said the recall was small relative to the scope of the state's school lunch program, but still significant. "I'm on my seventh year here, and I've never had something like this before," he observed. He said the department acted as "robustly" as possible by reaching out to all school districts. However, James O'Neill, superintendent in Chatham, complained that he read about the recall in the newspapers long before being notified by the state. "One notice came about 4:30 p.m. on Thursday the 21st, a second e-mail at 8:35 p.m. Friday night, and a more explicit e-mail today," he said. O'Neill said a check of school freezers found seven boxes of meatballs identified as part of the recall. Those and all products from Hallmark/Westland were pulled from the shelves, and no beef is being served this week. In Elizabeth, food services director Jamie Leavitt, an officer in the N.J. School Nutrition Association, said she was alerted to the recall by a vendor Feb. 18 and found only one case of processed meatballs at one school. She said workers poured bleach on it before discarding it. "Recalls are not unusual, but you don't see this huge a quantity," she said. State Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Essex), who first raised questions about the recalled meat products a week ago, said he plans to push for legislative hearings on the entire notification and recall process in New Jersey. "How do they know no kids got sick? Parents don't even know about it," he said. "We're going to have to take a more active role." The nationwide meat recall was ordered after an undercover video from the Humane Society of the United States surfaced more than a month ago showing crippled and sick animals at Hallmark/Westland Meat being shoved with forklifts into the slaughterhouse. © 2008 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.