3,500 pounds of beef discarded by school district.

Byline: Susan Palmer The Register-Guard

The Eugene School District dumped 3,500 pounds of frozen beef at the local landfill on Thursday after learning that it had received 200 cases of a product that was part of a government-ordered recall.

The teriyaki beef dunkers came from California processor Westland Meat Co., which is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for mistreatment of visibly sick livestock and unsafe conditions.

When the recall was announced three weeks ago, Eugene district staff members reported that they hadn't received any of the lot numbers in the recall, based on Oregon Department of Education records.

A third-party supplier later informed the district that it had delivered some of the questionable beef.

Invoices show that 200 cases were received in September 2007, but all of it remained in the district's cold-storage facility, school district spokesman Kelly McIversaid.

The market value of the beef is about $4,000, and it cost the district $135 to dump it at Lane County's Short Mountain Landfill, McIver said.

Annually, the Eugene School District uses about 16,000 pounds of beef, 27,500 pounds of chicken, 16,500 pounds of turkey, 5,000 pounds of egg products and 7,500 pounds of cheese, McIver said.

Those USDA commodity purchases are supplemented by several thousand pounds of Oregon state purchases each year, McIver said.

Thirteen of Lane County's 16 school districts, including Springfield and Bethel, also received and had to dump the beef.

Whether any of the meat actually wastainted is unclear, but federal regulations call for keeping ailing and downed cows out of the food supply because they may pose a higher risk of E. coli, salmonella or mad cow disease.