Authorizing the Philadelphia City Council Committee on Education to hold hearings on the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Alert that the Philadelphia School District received recalled-beef through the National School Lunch program including inquiry into efforts by the School District to insure food safety and nutrition.

WHEREAS

, In early February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) initiated a recall of 143 million pounds of beef originating from the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co., of Chino, Calif.; and

WHEREAS

, This represents the largest beef recall in U.S. history; and

WHEREAS

, On Sept 19, 2008 the School District of Philadelphia was alerted by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture that local schools had received recalled-beef products through the National School Lunch program; and

WHEREAS

, The School District announced that it was withdrawing all dishes made with beef from school menus; and

WHEREAS

, The USDA ordered the Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co., to suspend operations after the Humane Society of the United States filmed employees there using forklifts and electric prods to force cows too sick and injured to walk, into the slaughter line-up; and

WHEREAS

, The USDA requires that sick and injured cows be inspected for salmonella, mad-cow and E. Coli diseases before slaughter; and

WHEREAS

, The USDA has informed the School District that the, “risk of children being ill from the recalled-beef is negligible; and

WHEREAS

, The School District has stated that, “At this time, we have not received any notification of a child being ill because of this beef recall,”; and

WHEREAS

, School District parents have raised concerns about the National School Lunch program, the recalled-beef and the School District’s efforts to insure food safety and nutrition; now therefore, be it,

RESOLVED, THAT THE PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL,

Authorizes the Philadelphia City Council Committee on Education to hold hearings on the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Alert that the Philadelphia School District received recalled-beef through the National School Lunch program including inquiry into efforts by the School District to insure food safety and nutrition.

End