STENCH OF VALCO'S BAD BISD BARBACOA WAFTS INTO COURT

By Juan Montoya
The lingering stench of rotten barbacoa sold to the Brownsville Independent School District's Food and Nutrition Service Department has now made its way to the state district courts.

In a case filed last September against McAllen-based Valco , the company that sold the meat through its Region One Cooperative Agreement, BISD says it wants to recover at least $396,000 of the more than $500,000 it paid the company for meat that was considered spoiled and detected on November 2016.

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 stood to make $3,019,200 over the 24 month period of deliveries to Region 1 member school districts.

And even though Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas said at the time 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," the lawsuit hints otherwise.

"Defendants had knowledge that the meats did not meet the required state and federal mandate under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Buy American Provisions" as required under the contract. The BISD relied on the defendant's representations that the meat me the "Buy American Provisions" and paid off the meats in full."

According to the BISD petition, the district returned the meats to Valco after it found them to be of poor quality. It alleges that Valco agreed to pick up the bad meat and reimburse the BISD for monies paid for the bad-smelling meat, but to date, have not reimbursed the BISD for the amount paid by the (district) even after it demanded its return.

There has been much speculation about how the BISD got involved with Valco, and some reports indicate that some district officials – including trustees Cesar Lopez and Carlos Elizondo – were personally involved and traveled to the plant in Mexico to iron out the deal. Reports also indicate that there were several "investors" invited to go along.

FNS director Silverio Capistran was to be interviewed by USDA agents on a Friday, but was found with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot to the head in his vehicle in the parking space of this apartment the night before. His death was ruled a suicide.

In their answer to the petition filed January 29, Valco Foods and its representative Francisco D. Orozco Leal Isla deny all the district's allegations and have asked for a jury trial. They are represented by Pena Garcia Guerrero, PLLC, of McAllen.

The BISD board's general counsel Baltazar Salazar is representing the school district.