Hawai'i was not one of the states listed on any of the three product hold lists provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to a news release. But the DOE says it is taking a precautionary measure by instructing schools to stop using beef products from both companies until further notice.

Hallmark Meat Packing Co. of Chino, Calif., was barred from supplying school lunch and other programs Wednesday while federal investigators look into videotapes that showed workers mistreating sick dairy cows.

Hallmark supplies the Westland Meat Co., which processes the carcasses. The facility is a major supplier to a USDA program that distributes beef to needy families, the elderly and to schools through the National School Lunch Program. Westland was named a USDA "supplier of the year" for 2004-2005 and has delivered beef to schools in 36 states.

Newly installed Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said "appropriate actions will be taken" against Hallmark if it violated food safety and animal cruelty laws.

Video footage showed workers kicking, shocking and otherwise abusing "downed" cows — considered too sick or injured to walk — to force them into a federally inspected slaughterhouse.

"There is no immediate health risk that we are aware of," Schafer said, but until the investigation is completed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has barred any use of meat coming from the slaughterhouse in federal food and nutrition programs.

The video, released Wednesday by The Humane Society of the United States after a six-week undercover investigation, shows workers at a California slaughterhouse repeatedly kicking cows and ramming them with the blades of a forklift as the animals squealed in pain.

It also showed plant workers jabbing in the eyes and applying electrical shocks to cows.

In one scene, the workers shoot high-intensity water sprays up the cows' noses in what The Humane Society described as a form of animal "waterboarding," or torture that simulates drowning.

USDA regulations and California law generally do not allow mistreatment of disabled animals, such as dragging them by chains or lifting them with forklifts. Federal regulations also call for keeping downed cows out of the food supply because they may pose a higher risk of E. coli, salmonella contamination, or mad cow disease since they typically wallow in feces and their immune systems are often weak.

In a statement, Steve Mendell, president of Westland and Hallmark, said the company immediately terminated two employees shown in the video and suspended their supervisor.

"We are shocked, saddened and sickened by what we have seen today," Mendell said. "Operations have been immediately suspended until we can meet with all of our employees and be assured these sorts of activities never again happen at our facility."

Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of The Humane Society, called the mistreatment of downer cows alarming to U.S. consumers because 95 percent eat meat.