U.S. recalls more than 60,000 tons of frozen beef as largest U.S. beef recall

the U.SDepartment of Agriculture on Wednesday ordered a recall of 143 million pounds of(
.45 kg) of frozen beef handled at a California abattoir because it has not been "fully and properly" testedU.SAgriculture Secretary Edward Schaefer said in a statement that the beef handled at the slaughterhouse had not been "fully and properly tested" by veterinarians as required, so the Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service determined that the beef was not suitable for human consumption and issued an emergency recallU.SDepartment of Agriculture officials say it is the largest beef recall in U.Shistory, surpassing the 35 million pounds of meat ban issued in 1999According to reports, the production date of the recalled beef can be traced back to2
2006
, the manufacturer of Westland/Hallmark Meats, based in Chino, CaliforniaUSDA officials speculate that an estimated 37 million pounds of beef ordered in the recall have been sold to schools across the United States, most of which may have been consumedBut USDA officials say no virus has been found of the recalled beef, which poses little threat to humanhealthAccording to preliminary investigations, some of the live cattle slaughtered by Westland/
Hallmark are "lying cattle", i.ecattle that are unable to stand or walk due to illness or other reasonsAccording to U.Sregulations, "lying cattle" meat is not edible because they are most likely infected with Ecoli,salmonella or mad cow diseaseThe investigation revealedthe company's staff hadin violation of the rules,used "cruel means" to pull the "lying cattle" into the slaughterhouse,then sell the beef to the market without testing U.S Department of Agriculture officials say several employees of the company have been charged with animal cruelty , and the company is being investigated