BREAKING NEWS

More than a dozen Laguna Beach dining establishments and organizations that serve food are working to restore their reputations after being linked to the country’s largest beef recall.

No reports of illness or death have been linked to the recalled beef.

Thirteen companies ranging from area restaurants to the school district to the medical center have been listed as clients of the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. Many claim they have never purchased beef from the now-closed slaughterhouse.

The original state Department of Public Health-released list of businesses in February only listed Husky Boy Burgers and Brussels Bistro as Laguna clients of Westland/Hallmark.

The following companies were added to the list, which was updated online on April 17: A La Carte, Aegean Café, Cedar Creek Inn, Cottage Restaurant, Coyote Grill, Jack-in-the-Box, the Laguna Beach Unified School District, [seven-degrees], South Coast Medical Center, Taco Bell and Tivoli Terrace.

“The names on the list were provided by distributors,” state health department spokeswoman Lea Brooks said. “It is up to a distributor to ensure the accuracy of the data they provide to the California Department of Public Health.”

The businesses on the list were supposed to have purchased Westland/Hallmark beef since Feb. 2006.

In total, thousands of companies and more than 1,000 school districts nationwide were listed; the recall covered more than two years’ worth of products, most of which have been destroyed or consumed already, the state department of health said in a press release. More than 5,000 companies in California alone were on the list.

In February, more than 140 million pounds of beef was recalled following accusations by the Humane Society that sick and injured cows were led to slaughter there.

As such “downer” cows may wallow in their own feces, such slaughtering is illegal due to the increased possibility of meat contamination.

Sales were down at Husky Boy in March following the recall announcement, but the declining economy could also have been a factor, restaurant owner Jay Carpelo said.

The North Coast Highway burger stand’s owner said he has had no dealings with Westland/Hallmark.

After Carpelo received a call and was sent a notice by the health department, Carpelo said he called his supplier and checked all his records to see whether they had ever dealt with Westland/Hallmark; no transactions were found.

“Otherwise I would stop selling meat,” he said.

Carpelo speculated that the Westland/Hallmark connection came from a prior proprietor’s dealings.

“When we took over three years ago, we cleaned that place up,” Carpelo said. “It was a dump when we picked it up. My thinking is that the previous owner purchased from them.”

He said he has asked to be removed from the list.

“For some reason, it’s still on there,” Carpelo said.

In recent days, he has been sent from the federal bureaucracy to the state level and then to the county level for answers, only to be told that the county wasn’t the source of the list, and was unable to help him, Carpelo said.

“You’re talking about a small business that’s losing money, but they don’t seem to care,” Carpelo said.

Brooks said that in order to get off the list, businesses must contact the Orange County Health Care Agency, which will forward the request to the state.

“We’re very happy to take them off,” Brooks said. “We just need that information from the local health department.”

Companies will need to supply information including menus and invoices from the past two years and a signed statement that they had not received or served products from the closed slaughterhouse within the past two years.

Alternately, they may supply a signed distributor statement that the distributor made an error in adding them to the list.

Estrella Harrington, the owner of A La Carte, said she uses three suppliers who bring beef to her from several different companies.

She spoke to them recently and learned that if any beef had been ordered from Westland/Hallmark to be sent to the restaurant, it was sent back before she used it.

“I keep watch personally on it, so I think we’re safe,” she said. “My supplier is very good at making sure we don’t get recalled beef. If they had any, they probably already took it back.”

Harrington said her supplier regularly provides updated information online, and she would be happy to provide updated supply lists to her clients upon request.

“We really watch what we are getting,” she said.

The Laguna Beach Unified School District pulled all beef products from its menus immediately following the recall, district spokesperson Darrin Reed said.

The district inspected all of its meat packages for recall code numbers, and didn’t find any affected products.