QUESTIONS REMAIN AFTER BISD ADMITS BUYING SPOILED MEAT

By Juan Montoya
The first indications that something was wrong with barbacoa meat served to students across the cafeterias of the Brownsville Independent School District happened way before the November incident was disclosed in a recent letter to parents.
It seems that Food and Nutrition Service workers noticed that there was no USDA inspection label on the containers where the meat was packaged.
It was only later that the district – after receiving numerous complaints about the meat being spoiled – moved to recover all the meat and return it for credit from Valco Foods LLC, the vendor who won the contract for the meat from the Texas Education Association's Region 1 office.
That was in November 2015.
 Only after the district got wind that several social media blogs were onto the story did the

administration acknowledge the incident and assured the parents of students in the BISD that all was well and that the meat had been returned.
The letter to parents was issued January 19, 2016.
Why wait that long to inform parents of something that had happened two months earlier?
"Obviously, the administration is trying to preempt the criticism that allowed this incident to happen," said a teacher at a middle school who wished to remain anonymous fearing reprisals. "They knew people were on to them and issued the press release. It's called damage control."
Other critics say that even despite the incident, the choice of barbacoa to feed the BISD students and employees is a poor one.
"How nutritious is barbacoa, carne de cachete?" asked a former board member. "That is one of the cuts that just loaded with grease. Then to pay $6.29 a pound, pay a Mexican processor and then feed it to kids is almost criminal. You're buying expensive meat using federal dollars and paying a vendor to pay a processor in Mexico. Does this make any sense?"
Other sources have revealed that the product in question originated from a processor operating in an industrial park in Gomez Palacio, Durango. The firm in question – Empacadora Frape, S.A. de C.V. – however, uses Mexican-grown  meat, processes it, and exports it to the United States. It is slisted as Valco's main meat supplier. A USDA list opf approved meat importers indicates the company was certified in July 10, 2009, decertified for unspecified reasons on January 28, 2011 and recertified to import meats again on May, 24/2011
Questions about the fact that the BISD admitted in the letter that the meat had been processed in Mexico raised doubts that it could have been raised and purchased in the United States. Valco's office is located in an office suite in McAllen. It is listed on the website as "Valco en los Estados Unidos.," indicating that its parent company is in Mexico.
According to a June 23, 2015, posting on the Region 1 Education Center, On May 20, 2015 the Region One Education Service Center Child Nutrition Program – South Texas Cooperative (CNP-STC) acting on behalf of its members (among them BISD), obtained thirty-three (33) proposals for Discounted Warehouse Proposal 15-04-12.
The directors approved the recommendations for award of Discounted Warehouse Proposal 15-04-12. This method of purchase allows Cooperative members the ability to purchase products and/or services not available through other procurement means. It also allows CNP-STC members the ability to order food and/or supplies directly from manufacturers without going through a third-party distributor. CNP-STC members are responsible for the selection of products available to meet the menu needs, nutrition goals, storage capabilities, and student preferences.
Valco Foods was approved to provide Region 1 member school districts with 20,000 pounds per month of shredded beef, barbacoa style, from July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2017 with 1 two‐year extension option. It is unknown how many pounds that Valco Foods delivered under the Region 1 contract have been bought by the BISD. If fulfilled, the company stands to make $3,019,200 over the 24 month period of deliveries to Region 1 member school districts. Do the Region 1 directors know that Valco has been using a Mexican processor to supply its member district schools with barbacoa?
Part of the award letter states that " Food and beverage items must meet the USDA Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010 requirements and/or the USDA Smart Snacks in Schools Standards, as well as any additional requirements mandated by the Texas Department of Agriculture."

A BISD source tells us that staff at Food and Nutrition Service has seen numerous deliveries of the meat to the district food warehouse by vehicles with Mexican license plates.
Valco Foods is not on a USDA list of plants and wholesale meat companies who are authorized to export meat to Mexico or import the processed product to the United States. However, its supplier Empacadora Frape, S.A. de C.V., is.
The staffer also said that the meat delivered has at times gone bad and had to be thrown away. 

In the BISD post, the administration said that a suspicious delivery of meat was discovered last November and that a batch of meat products for students and employees consumption "was not up to district standards was immediately recalled from all BISD cafeterias when several district and campus. FNS employees noticed that the product was defective and proactively reported their concerns. The product was returned to the vendor for full credit and the BISD has discontinued the purchase of meat products that are processed in Mexico."

The BISD post further states that "the product was raised and purchased in the United States from a USDA approved vendor but was processed in Mexico according to USDA guidelines and under the supervision of a USDA inspector."
Part of the award letter states that " Food and beverage items must meet the USDA Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010 requirements and/or the USDA Smart Snacks in Schools Standards, as well as any additional requirements mandated by the Texas Department of Agriculture"

"HEB sells barbacoa for $5 a pound," said the nBISD teacher. "Why are we paying $6.29 a pound for greasy meat to feed the kids of the BISD? Is this what Dr. (Superintendent Esperanza) Zendejas meant when she said that she wanted to feed them taquitos?"