Slaughterhouse backstory

We finally know more about Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing, the Chino company that's at the center of the largest beef recall in U.S. history. As reported by the WSJ, the business really goes back to 1960 when the plant began slaughtering older dairy cows from Inland Valley farms, according to a former owner, Donald Hallmark. Many years later, in 1990, Steve Mendell established Westland Meat Co. in Commerce, and several years later relocated the company to Chino. The company didn't slaughter cattle, but bought fresh beef from companies like Hallmark Meat Packing.

In 1993, Mr. Mendell's company and other meat suppliers came under scrutiny when four children died and 600 other people were sickened by burgers sold by fast-food chain Jack in the Box Inc. Although the exact source of the E. coli bacteria found in the beef was never determined, Westland was among companies that settled legal claims totaling $58.5 million. Hallmark drew its own scrutiny in the 1990s. The Inland Valley Humane Society in neighboring Pomona found recurring problems with the plant's handling of downer cows, which can't walk or stand on their own, said Brian Sampson, the society's supervisor of animal services.

Mendell acquired full control of Hallmark's company in 2003 - apparently because he wanted to become a supplier for the national school-lunch program and needed a slaughterhouse. Mendell invested heavily in the facility - except for the outside pens where an undercover worker for the Humane Society secretly filmed workers last fall forcing sick or injured cows to their feet using forklifts and water hoses. By the way, Mendell failed to show up at a congressional hearing last month and has been subpoenaed to testify tomorrow.