Westland/ Hallmark Meat Packing Company and the Cattle Standers The US. Department of Agriculture issued its biggest meat recall in its history when it ordered a recall of 143 million pounds of meat processed and sold by Westland! Hallmark Meat Packing Company. The Humane Society of the United States had undercover video made at the company's plant that showed how the company handled the so-called \"downer cattle.\" Under federal law, cattle scheduled for slaughter must be able to stand upright. If the cattle cannot walk or are too ill to stand, the law provides that they must be euthanized but cannot be put into the meat supply. The rule is based on the reality that cattle that can- not stand or walk are more likely to carry some form of disease such as mad cow or salmo- nella. The Humane Society video sh0wed wOrkers at the plant using a liberal denitiOn of a \"stander,\" and using shocks and forklifts to get the cattle upright for purposes of inspection so that the cattle could then be slaughtered. Downers are considered unt for human con- sumption, but the downers the workers prodded into standing were slaughtered and made their way into the food supply. The workers were compensated on the basis of number of head of cattle slaughtered per day. Westlandeallmark was named USDA supplier of the year in 2006; it is a company with a good reputation. However, over 50 million pounds of the meat had made their way into school lunch programs. Some of the meat had already been eaten, with no illnesses reported. Reforms are already in the works, both in Congress and at the USDA. The video that was taken undercover can be viewed on YouTube. The video was aired at the congressio- nal hearings on 1lo'Vestlantila' Hallmark, and when the general manager saw the video he said, \"The video just astounded us. Our jaws dropped.. .. We thought this place was sparkling perfect.\"353 Westlandeallmark paid a fine of $497 million, and father and son, Donald Hallmark Sr. and Donald Hallmark Ir., general partners of Hallmark Meat Co., have five years to pa}-r a separate settlement of $316,802