Schools to be reimbursed for beef

The California Superintendent of Public Instruction sent a statement to schools Tuesday regarding the destruction of recalled beef and the National School Lunch Program reimbursement process.

Superintendent Jack O’Connell asked the California Department of Nutrition Services to become actively involved in distributing the information needed for schools to destroy the beef and to seek compensation.

Schools will receive a form to be filed in order to seek reimbursement from the state’s Department of Education, according to state officials.

“Our understanding is that the California Department of Education would then expedite our reimbursement to schools that incurred expenses in paying for National School Lunch Program food that then had to be destroyed,” O’Connell said.

It has been previously reported the Newport-Mesa Unified School District has roughly 100 pounds of beef on-site, while around 10,000 pounds is on hold at processing sites.

Newport-Mesa Director of Nutrition Services Richard Greene did not immediately return phone calls.

Westland Meat and the Hallmark slaughterhouse are under investigation by the USDA for inhumane practices that were used to process downed cattle. The company is one of the largest distributors of beef to the National School Lunch Program.

It is likely some of the recalled beef from Westland was already consumed by Newport-Mesa children, Greene had earlier said.

“Thankfully, there have been no reports of illness among California students who may have eaten the beef over the past several months,” O’Connell said. “However, I remain very concerned about the recall and the safety of the food supply. I will not tolerate any potential threat to the safety of the food we feed our students under the National School Lunch Program.”

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.