Lawmakers call for review of school lunch program

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers on Thursday requested an independent government investigation into the safety of meat in the country's school lunch program following a recent finding that a California plant slaughtered and processed meat from unfit animals.

Westland Meat Co, one of the largest suppliers of beef to the National School Lunch Program and other federal food assistance efforts, voluntarily stopped operations after an affiliate, California-based Hallmark Meat Packing Co, was accused of mistreating disabled or "downer" cattle.

The Humane Society of the United States released videotapes on January 30 that showed Hallmark workers using a variety of abusive techniques to force unfit cattle into the slaughterhouse so they could be processed into food.

The plant supplies product to the Westland.

Since then, USDA has withdrawn inspectors, put a "hold" on all Westland products and suspended the company indefinitely as a supplier to federal nutrition programs.

"While these initial steps by USDA were appropriate, they leave unanswered a larger question about the overall effectiveness of the federal government's effort to ensure the safety of meat in the school food supply," the lawmakers said in a letter to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress.

The letter was sent to the GAO by U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro, George Miller, Carolyn McCarthy and Sen. Dick Durbin.

In the letter, they asked GAO to investigate the process for protecting students from dangerous food, and how quickly and accurately schools can assess and pull potentially contaminated products.

(Reporting by Christopher Doering; Editing by Marguerita Choy)