In the coming weeks, students in the Jordan-Elbridge Central School District will approach lunch lines and find there are no hamburgers and meatballs to be found.
In light of the recent beef recall - the largest recall in U.S. history - the school district is putting beef on a temporary hold to make sure all incoming pounds aren't tainted and are safe to eat.
“It's just to be safe,” Superintendent Marilyn Dominick said. “It's just the right thing to do. We have plenty of food that the kids love and enjoy, so it was pretty easy to make some switches to our menu. We haven't had any complaints.”
On Feb. 17, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it was recalling 143 million pounds of ground beef after officials watched an undercover video showing crippled and sick animals being forced to walk by forklifts.
Dominick said that five cartons containing recalled beef were found and disposed of immediately.
While all incoming shipments of beef are safe, the district will hold off serving beef for three weeks. The moratorium began last week and is expected to end March 14.
“We are good to go right now, but from a public relations standpoint we will not serve processed meat products for a couple of weeks,” said Bill Vita, director of food service in a news release. “It's not a problem. The kids love our chicken patties.”
Jordan-Elbridge is the only district in the area to temporarily stop serving beef. Most districts never had any recalled beef in inventory.
These include the Auburn Enlarged City School District, Moravia Central Schools, Port Byron Schools, Skaneateles Central Schools, Southern Cayuga Central School District, Union Springs Central Schools and Weedsport Central Schools.
Sue McDuffie, food service director for the Cato-Meridian Central School District, said the district had served beef included in the recall prior to the announcement, but no students had gotten sick and have since complied with directives coming from the USDA and the state Education Department.
The district purchased ground beef from Sysco, she said, and will serve that to students in the coming days.
“It's just to be safe,” Superintendent Marilyn Dominick said. “It's just the right thing to do. We have plenty of food that the kids love and enjoy, so it was pretty easy to make some switches to our menu. We haven't had any complaints.”
On Feb. 17, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it was recalling 143 million pounds of ground beef after officials watched an undercover video showing crippled and sick animals being forced to walk by forklifts.
Dominick said that five cartons containing recalled beef were found and disposed of immediately.
While all incoming shipments of beef are safe, the district will hold off serving beef for three weeks. The moratorium began last week and is expected to end March 14.
“We are good to go right now, but from a public relations standpoint we will not serve processed meat products for a couple of weeks,” said Bill Vita, director of food service in a news release. “It's not a problem. The kids love our chicken patties.”
Jordan-Elbridge is the only district in the area to temporarily stop serving beef. Most districts never had any recalled beef in inventory.
These include the Auburn Enlarged City School District, Moravia Central Schools, Port Byron Schools, Skaneateles Central Schools, Southern Cayuga Central School District, Union Springs Central Schools and Weedsport Central Schools.
Sue McDuffie, food service director for the Cato-Meridian Central School District, said the district had served beef included in the recall prior to the announcement, but no students had gotten sick and have since complied with directives coming from the USDA and the state Education Department.
The district purchased ground beef from Sysco, she said, and will serve that to students in the coming days.
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