School Superintendent Kathy Cox today cautioned parents not to overreact about the possibility that tainted meat may have been in their kids school lunch.
A video shot by the Humane Society of the Westland slaughterhouse in California shows downed cows that may have made it into the school lunch supply. Twenty-eight of Georgia’s public school systems (listed below) received meat from there and the USDA has shut down the plant. Federal officials are investigating whether the cows were part of that supply. Because of a fear of mad cow disease, downed cows are banned from the food supply.
Earlier this month, State School Superintendent Kathy Cox ordered cafeterias to pull the meat. "I just want to tell parents," said Cox. "It’s o.k. We’ve not gotten any report of there being any sick children in Georgia. And I want to tell parents this is all done in an abundance of caution."
More than 170 thousand pounds of beef is on hold in Georgia. Cox says she expects to hear on Monday, whether it’s save or not.
The school systems of the following counties received meat from the plant under investigation:
Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Carrollton, Cartersville, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coffee, Dalton, Decatur, Dekalb, Fannin, Floyd, Forsyth, Fulton, Gordon, Grady, Griffin-Spalding, Gwinnett, Jackson, Lamar, Marion, Murray, Muscogee, Newton, Pickens, and Tift.
