GFI America, a Minneapolis-based company that distributes ground beef to Minnesota school districts, including Austin, has been temporarily shut down after repeated evidence of rodent infestation.

But the Austin School District receives meat from many companies and does not have products from GFI in stock at this time, said Arla Klimesh, Austin Schools food service director.

The Department of Children, Families and Learning will temporarily stop distributing 120,000 pounds of GFI America ground beef to schools. GFI already has been inspected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but the state wants to conduct its own inspection, Klimesh said.

The beef Austin receives is not stored at the GFI plant, but rather at Hawkeye Foodservice Distribution until it is shipped to schools, Klimesh said.

Where Austin Schools gets its meat from depends on what the USDA decides to ship to the state, Klimesh said. All meat is approved by the USDA so any meat previously shipped by GFI was safe to eat, she said.

"It all depends on how the USDA buys the beef and what comes to Minnesota," she said.

Klimesh found out about GFI's temporary shut down Wednesday afternoon. An establishment number is printed on the meat packages and Klimesh was given a list of packages that may contain contaminated meat. None of the numbers on packages in Austin's supply matched those on the list, she said.

"We don't have any of the product," Klimesh said.

All of the kitchen managers in Austin schools are certified by the Minnesota Department of Health and know how to cook meat properly and detect problems with beef products, she said.

The ground beef produced in the plant for schools and federal nutrition programs was tested earlier for E. coli, salmonella and other food-borne pathogens, a USDA official said.

"Anything that left that plant that was inspected and approved was free of any rodent contamination," said Steven Cohen, a spokesman for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service.

The Department of Children, Families and Learning is considering hiring a laboratory to test the meat for contaminants, according to officials.

"We're just being as cautious as we can," said Doug Gray, spokesman for the department, which oversees some food distribution for the school lunch program. "We're all being concerned about the safety of our food that gets to our kids."

-- The Associated Press

contributed to this report