For the 2004-05 school year, the government named Hallmark/Westland the school lunch program's Supplier of the Year. But the company began to unravel in late January, when a video made by an investigator from the Humane Society of the U.S. came to light.
The video showed workers at the plant trying to make sick or injured cattle stand up with electrical-shock devices, forklifts and high-pressure water hoses. Cattle that can't walk or stand on their own are generally banned from the nation's food supply. Such "downer" cows can be sources of mad-cow disease, which can cause a rare but fatal brain disorder in humans.
The video "just astounded us," Mr. Magidow said Friday. "Our jaws dropped....We thought this place was sparkling perfect."
