SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Two former employees of a Chino slaughterhouse were charged Friday with abusing ailing cattle in a case that came to light when undercover video surfaced showing crippled and sick animals being shoved with forklifts.

“The facts of this case are horrendous,” San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael Ramos told a news conference. “It makes your stomach turn to see what they did to these cows.”

Five felony counts of animal cruelty and three misdemeanors were filed against Daniel Navarro, 49, of Pomona, and three misdemeanor counts were filed against Luis Sanchez, 32, of Chino.

The misdemeanors allege illegal movement of a non-ambulatory animal.

The men were expected to surrender in court for arraignment Friday afternoon. If convicted, Navarro would face up to eight years in prison and Sanchez would face up to three years.

The district attorney’s office did not know if they had retained lawyers.

The slaughterhouse is operated by Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., which supplies meat to the federal school lunch program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended operations at Westland/Hallmark after the video surfaced, and on Thursday lawmakers in Washington called for an investigation.

No charges have been filed against company management. The district attorney said prosecutors would have to show management had knowledge of the activities and that had not been determined.

The Napa Valley Unified School District removed all beef from its school menus earlier this month, 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.

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

The video showed, among other things, cattle being rammed with forklifts and workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing “downer” animals that were apparently too sick or injured to walk into the slaughterhouse.

Calling it “waterboarding,” Ramos said some animals had water forced down their throats to choke them.

Prosecutors said Navarro and Sanchez were seen in the video. They were fired and their supervisor was suspended.

The video was shot by a person working undercover for The Humane Society of the United States.

Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of The Humane Society, said he couldn’t estimate how many animals were mistreated at the plant.

He said a USDA inspector was at the plant for only about an hour each day and the case should be a wake-up call to the government to do better monitoring.

Pacelle noted that downed animals are protected by federal laws.

“Our duty is to see that they aren’t abused,” Pacelle said. “It’s wrong and unacceptable. We hope the message is sent to slaughterhouses across the nation that this kind of behavior is out of bounds.”

USDA officials have put a hold until Feb. 19 on meat products from the facility, which are also used by major hamburger chains around the nation.

Investigations have found no evidence that meat from disabled animals has entered the food supply.

Federal regulations call for keeping downed cattle out of the food supply because they may pose a higher risk of E. coli, salmonella contamination or mad cow disease because they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems are often weak.

About 150 school districts around the nation have stopped using ground beef from Hallmark Meat Packing Co., which is associated with Westland. There have been no reported illnesses linked to the beef at any of the schools. Some fast-food chains also have halted using products from Westland/Hallmark.

Westland President Steve Mendell said in a letter posted on the company’s Web site that he was “shocked and horrified” by what he saw on the video.

The USDA inspector general is looking into Westland’s procedures and could turn over information to the Justice Department for criminal charges.