Why recall two-year-old ground beef?

In case you were wondering, Slate explains why that order to recall meat sent to schools from Hallmark Meat Packing wasn't as pointless as it may have seemed:

Why would you recall meat that was sold two years ago? In case someone hasn't eaten it yet....

How much of that meat is still around? Not much, in all likelihood. The USDA recommends that uncooked frozen meat be served within four to 12 months of packaging, but there are no rules on how long a package of ground beef can stay on a freezer shelf. Still, it's unlikely that anyone would be eating two-year-old beef. Ice crystals form on meat that's been left in the freezer too long, breaking down the cell structure of the muscular tissue and making it soggy. This decrement in quality is so obvious that very few restaurants would bother serving it....Most of the beef in question was sold directly to the food-service industry and to school lunch programs, which don't normally keep supplies sitting around for years on end.

That's why kids can't learn! Low-quality meat.