USDA hold on beef has little impact on PBC schools

Published February 11th, 2008

By Dale M. King
CITY EDITOR

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s administrative hold on ground beef processed by the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. had little impact on Palm Beach County schools.

“School menus were only affected one day,” said a news release issued by the county School District. Lori Dornbusch, assistant director of site-based operations, said a “sparse” number of schools had to substitute chicken, turkey or other federally acceptable food item for beef on one day.

She said she did not know if any schools in Boca Raton or Delray Beach were affected.

USDA placed an administrative hold on all Hallmark/Westland products because of potential violations of regulatory requirements and contractual terms as a supplier of products to the federal food and nutrition programs.

Dornbusch said school departments nationwide only get about 20 percent of food from the federal government.

She said Palm Beach County schools serve beef entrees only two or three times a week.

The District’s statement said “schools received food orders on Wednesday and Thursday with enough beef to be able to follow the posted menus. The District will not suffer any monetary loss due to the hold.”

Dale M. King can be reached at 561-549-0832 or at dking@bocanews.com.