Justice Department to intervene in civil lawsuit.(WASHINGTON)(Hallmark Meat Packing Co., Westland Meat Company Inc. v. Humane Society of the United States)(Brief article)

Food Institute Report, The, May, 2009

The U.S. Justice Department is intervening in a civil lawsuit against two former supplers to the National School Lunch Program on charges that the companies allegedly submitted false and fraudulent claims to USDA's AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (AMS), reported MEATPOULTRY.com (May 4). The defendants, HALLMARK MEAT PACKING COMPANY and WESTLAND MEAT COMPANY INC., no longer supply ground beef to the National School Lunch Program or AMS following the recall of all ground beef from the companies on Feb. 16, 2008 by USDA.

The lawsuit was originally filed by THE HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE U.S. under the "whistleblower" provisions of the False Claims Act. The Humane Society claim that the defendants knowingly and falsely represented to AMS that cattle at their slaughtering...

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