DES MOINES - The Iowa Department of Education has told school districts to quit using beef products from two companies that may have processed ground beef from a California company accused of mistreating cattle.

This is in addition to thousands of other cases of beef the state put on hold last week due to the same circumstance.

"Beef crumbles" or precooked beef used in sloppy Joe's and tacos from Cincinnati-based Pierre Foods Inc. may have been sent to schools across Iowa as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's commodities program, said Elaine Watkins-Miller, a spokeswoman for the Education Department. She said six school districts have also been told to stop using beef crumbles from Advance Food Co. of Enid, Okla.

"The companies have put a hold on their products," Watkins-Miller said.

At least two local school districts may have received some of the meat.

"We think we have some in the freezers," said Superintendent Dave Stokes of Cedar Falls Community Schools. District officials will confirm that today, when kitchen managers are back after school was canceled Wednesday.

Superintendent Dewitt Jones said Waterloo Community Schools has 86 cases of the ground beef from Pierre Foods that it has been told not to use.

"We'll do with it what they tell us to do," he said. "All we know so far is to hold it until further notice."

The two companies may have processed meat from Westland Meat Co.

The Iowa action was in response to a USDA order, which barred any use of meat from the California slaughterhouse in federal food and nutrition programs. Federal officials said there was no health risk, but the Chino, Calif.-based company could be in violation of rules designed to keep unhealthy animals out of the food supply.

The Humane Society of the United States, which released a video showing inhumane treatment of cattle at the plant, said Iowa was among the top destinations for Westland beef, with the state ranking sixth.

Of food served in Iowa school lunch programs, about 15 percent comes from the federal commodities program.

Last week, the state ordered schools to hold 8,000 cases of ground beef from Westland Meat Co. The state is also holding an additional 4,000 cases of meat from Westland at two warehouses in Des Moines and Mason City.