Cyndi Loza

Nearly three tons of food intended for Carson City schoolchildren was ground into the city landfill Friday morning as the largest beef recall in United States history wore on.

Workers heaved 224 cardboard cases of ground beef, hamburger patties, tacos, beef fingers and other dishes from the back of a municipal truck into an acres-wide refuse heap before massive earthmoving equipment churned it to shreds. The steps were necessary to make sure no one attempted would accidentally consume the food, which may have been made from the flesh of sick cattle, Carson City School District officials said.

“The district has the responsibility for receiving it,” said Environmental Health Specialist Neil Fox, who joined several other health and government officials in witnessing the food’s destruction. “They need to have us witness exactly what happened here before they can get their money back.”

The suspect meals were obtained from Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., supplier of beef to hundreds of school lunch programs in the United States. The company recently recalled a record 143.4 million pounds of meat after video surfaced of workers at its Chino, Calif., plant forcing potentially ill livestock into the processing area without veterinary clearance.

Every Nevada school district, save Esmeralda County’s, has received meat from Westland/Hallmark, though it wasn’t clear how much of it was actually consumed, district officials said. Douglas County School District is expected to destroy more than 50 cases of suspect meals next week, Fox said.