Napa schools are pulling beef from their menus in response to allegations that a Chino-based meat distributor used inhumane and illegal practices on sick and injured cows.

An undercover investigation by the Humane Society of the United States shows slaughterhouse workers at Westland Meat Company’s Chino slaughterhouse kicking cows, ramming them with the blades of a forklift, jabbing them in the eyes, applying electrical shocks and using high-pressure hoses to force sick and injured animals to walk to slaughter.

Westland, which supplies meat to schools in 36 states through the National School Lunch Program, has been indefinitely suspended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a supplier to federal food programs. An administrative hold has been placed on Westland meat products that are in, or destined for, federal food and nutrition programs.

The Napa Valley Unified School District has removed all beef from its school menus, said Robert Ruiz, general manager for Napa Valley Unified School District’s Sodexo School Services — hamburgers from middle and high schools, and a beef teriyaki dish at the elementary level. Instead, they will serve chicken entrees and a ham and cheese melt.

“This torture is right out of the waterboarding manual,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the U.S. “To see the extreme cruelties shown in the HSUS video challenges comprehension.”

State and federal laws prohibit the slaughter of downed cattle — cattle too sick or injured to walk — for food supply, citing animal cruelty and safety issues related to the consumption of meat from unhealthy animals.

Ruiz assures Napa parents that their children are safe, saying there have been no reported complaints or illnesses in Napa schools.

The video “shows slaughter plant workers displaying complete disregard for the pain and misery they inflicted as they repeatedly attempted to force ‘downed’ animals onto their feet and into the human food chain,” according to an HSUS a Humane Society news release. And those “inhumane handling methods may have endangered the health of the children” by potentially exposing them to mad cow disease, it said.

“The practice of slaughtering downed cows is especially troubling now that the link between downed cattle and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, has been firmly established,” according to the release. “Of the 15 known cases of BSE-infected animals discovered in North America, at least 12 involved downed animals.”

According to the USDA, Westland distributed 27 million pounds of frozen meat last year to federal food programs including those for schools and the poor and elderly. Of the 27 million distributed nationwide, 8 million pounds were supplied to programs in California. The USDA estimates that 100,000 schools and child care facilities receive meat through the lunch program.

While Westland is not a direct vendor for Napa’s school services program, the company does distribute to manufacturers that supply food to Napa schools, said Ruiz.

“Sodexo is following the USDA’s investigation of Westland Meat Co. and will take swift and immediate action,” he said, adding, “It is important to note that this is not a recall; it is an administrative hold.”

The hold is set to expire Feb. 19, and the eligibility of the company to participate in federal programs remains suspended pending investigations.