2 Firms Barred From School Lunch Program

The Agriculture Department said Thursday that two California poultry companies have been suspended from providing food to the government’s school lunch program because of “alleged false representation” that their product met federal specifications.

Officials identified the suspended firms as Cal-Pacific Poultry Inc. of Pomona and Beaumont Poultry Inc. of Beaumont. Both companies are under the same management.

“Cal-Pacific did not sell directly to USDA but supplied boneless fowl to three other plants which were under contract to sell chicken patties to the school lunch program,” the department said.

“USDA has reason to believe that poultry meat used to produce chicken patties was misrepresented as meeting school lunch program specification, a violation of USDA regulations.”

Agriculture Secretary John R. Block said in a statement that at this time “there is no evidence of a health threat from the product, and there have been no reports of illnesses associated with it.”

As a precautionary measure, the department is asking states and schools to hold the patties bought from the three plants which were supplied by Cal-Pacific. The three plants were not identified.

The products were shipped to schools in 39 states and territories.

Pat Drayne of the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said that a preliminary investigation suggests that “an unauthorized stamp was used” to falsify production dates, thereby concealing the true age of the product.