School Meat on Hold!

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Story Published: Feb 11, 2008 at 6:19 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 7, 2008 at 12:18 PM MST

By Abbey Gibb

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Many Eastern Idaho School Districts are keeping some beef off the lunch tables, until the government says if it's tainted. Worst cast scenario: it could be Mad Cow Disease. Channel Three Eyewitness News reporter Abbey Gibb joins us with more.

District 91, along with Madison and Pocatello School Districts are all affected by this. What's worse: they haven't notified parents.

This meat could have Mad Cow Disease, and thousands of kids could possibly be infected all across Eastern Idaho. A serious realization District 91 came to nearly three weeks ago.

Liz Branter, Dist.91 Child Nutrition Supr: "Little panic. First thing I did was contact kitchens and warehouse letting them know immediately."

This meat processed at a Chino, California plant could have been infected since July of last year meaning...

Branter: "We feed about 6,000 kids a day and it's been about half a year."

And that's just one district. We were supposed to get results from the USDA last week, but some expect it could take another month before we get answers.

Branter: "The USDA is investigating and the State will be waiting on it from the USDA."

And until they do, school officials didn't want to unnecessarily scare parents. But what's most alarming: districts don't have a real game plan if and when this turns ugly.

Branter: "If there's a problem I would believe they would recall the meat and do everything they could to make sure that nothing like this happened again."

Abbey Gibb, reporter: "What would you do for the kids?"

Branter: "I don't know what I could do except for try to get the information to the parents as quickly as I receive it from the state."

And right now the State hasn't given school districts an idea of symptoms to expect for Mad Cow. But to remind you: they have not found this disease in any of the meat yet.

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