Suspect beef products were already in Richmond public school cafeterias before school officials learned on Tuesday that some of the meat had been recalled.

And Chesterfield County public schools learned Thursday that an expanded recall of beef included products in its division.

On Sunday, the federal government recalled at least 143 million pounds of frozen beef from a California slaughterhouse, Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., the largest recall in U.S. history.

The recall was prompted by videos that showed downer cattle -- which could be diseased -- were being forced into the slaughterhouse.

"Somebody needs to fix something," James Damm, interim chief operating officer for Richmond Public Schools, said of the communications breakdown between schools and the food-supply system. "Unfortunately, there are glitches in the system."

Richmond school personnel were not aware of affected beef products in their schools until Tuesday, more than two weeks after state officials believed the schools had been notified of a hold on the products, said Vista Suarez, director of school nutrition for city schools.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says its food distribution office received a list in early February from food processors of affected beef products that might be in schools. At that time, the items were on hold and had not yet been recalled.

"On Feb. 4, one of the food processors sent a notice to Richmond Schools telling them two [beef ] items were in the hold," said Marion Horsley, agriculture department spokeswoman.

Suarez said she received an e-mail from meat broker Pierre Foods on Feb. 6 with an attached letter dated Feb. 4 identifying some beef products included in the hold.

But she said she received verbal assurance earlier that day from Pierre that Richmond schools were not affected. "I trust the brokers and their word," she said.

On Feb. 11, Horsley said, all schools in Virginia were sent e-mails advising them the hold was extended and to await further notice from meat processors. Three officials in the Richmond school system should have received that notice, she said.

Suarez said she does not recall getting that e-mail.

She said she continued to believe Richmond schools were not affected and was verbally assured again during the week of Feb. 11 by Pierre that the city schools had no affected items. Pierre representatives were unavailable for comment yesterday.

The Richmond school system said it learned only Tuesday morning from the broker that the district was included in the recall. By then, beef spaghetti sauce and meat loaf made from the recalled meat were already in school cafeterias. It is unclear how much had been served to students.

Suarez said she received word from the state agriculture department on Thursday about a recall expansion, which included more items in school cafeterias.

Richmond schools pulled flame-broiled beef patties and beef rib-B-Q patties on Thursday and began dousing them yesterday with bleach, sealing in plastic bags and discarding them.

School personnel are tallying the cost of destroying the food. "We want to get reimbursement," Damm said.

The costs are more than monetary, said Sarah Klein, an attorney in the food-safety program at the Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington.

"It's a crisis of consumer confidence. What we're seeing is a broken system limping along."

Chesterfield schools mistakenly were not notified of the initial hold, Horsley said. A food broker notified the division Feb. 15, said Debra Q. Marlow, schools spokeswoman.

Chesterfield officials checked supplies, found lot numbers matching meat on the recall list and pulled the products, Marlow said.

School officials pulled more items Thursday and decided not to serve chili, spaghetti sauce and other meat products that came from the USDA's school lunch program, she said.

"We will not be serving any beef processed by the USDA until it is certain that it is safe," she said.
Contact Lisa Crutchfield at (804) 649-6362 or lcrutchfield@timesdispatch.com.