Following a criminal investigation conducted at Rancho Feeding Corp. — the Petaluma slaughterhouse which earlier this year recalled approximately 8.7 million pounds of beefconnected with dairy cows with a condition known as “cancer eye” that often indicates cancer elsewhere in the body — a federal grand jury has charged employees at the now-shuttered slaughterhouse with 11 felony counts.
Rancho Feeding Corp. co-owner Jesse J. Amaral Jr. and two employees have been charged with a number of felonies for knowingly processing diseased cattle between mid-2012 and January 2014.
According to the federal indictment, a foreperson on the slaughterhouse’s “kill floor” was responsible for switching uninspected cows for cows that had already passed inspection, and then chopping off the heads of the diseased cows, which exhibited clear signs of illness, to avoid detection.
The federal indictment names former Rancho co-owner Jesse J. (Babe) Amaral Jr., foreman Felix Sandoval Cabrera, and yardman Eugene D. Corda in connection with a total of 11 felonies involving mail fraud and conspiracy, along with the placing of adulterated and misbranded meat into interstate commerce.
Amaral pleaded not guilty and was freed on a $50,000 cash bond. If the government is successful in prosecuting him on all 11 charges, the maximum penalties could total 103 years in prison and fines of $1.3 million.
Separately, the government has charged the other Rancho co-owner, Robert Singleton, with a single count of distribution of adulterated, misbranded and uninspected meat. Prosecutors said Singleton “will plead guilty and cooperate in the prosecution of the indictment.”
According to the indictment, Rancho was acquiring cattle with signs of epithelioma, meaning lumps or other abnormalities around the eye, that were less expensive than healthy animals.
Corda, the yardman, would move cattle with eye problems to a pen known as “9A.” Then either Amaral or Singleton would decide if and when cattle in “9A” would be designated for inspection and slaughter.
Cattle passing the ante mortem inspection would be moved to the kill floor, where they were knocked and slaughtered, and then subjected to post mortem inspection.
In mid-2012, Amaral allegedly began instructing employees to process cattle that the USDA veterinarian had condemned in the ante mortem inspection. According to the indictment, Cabrera ordered employees to cut the “USDA Condemned” stamps out of the carcasses and continue processing them for transport, sale and distribution.
The scheme to get cows with eye cancer around inspectors began at about the same time, the indictment states. Cabrera swapped out cows with cancers with animals that had already passed inspection and were awaiting slaughter. Employees then disposed of the heads of cows with cancerous eyes into a “gut bin” and placed the heads of healthy animals next to the carcasses when USDA inspectors were on lunch breaks.
According to the indictment, Rancho processed meat from 101 condemned cattle, including 79 with “cancer eye,” during the period. The foreman was allegedly paid $50 for each condemned carcass that was distributed.
The Petaluma facility is now operating under the ownership of a group of investors led by Marin Sun Farms CEO David Evans. It is the only facility of its kind in California’s Northern Bay Area with a market reach for cattle that includes Northern California and Nevada.
“This switch and slaughter of uninspected cancer eye cows occurred during the inspectors’ lunch breaks, a time during which plant operations were supposed to cease. When the inspectors returned from lunch for post mortem inspections, they were unaware that the carcasses they were inspecting belonged to cancer eye cows that had escaped ante mortem inspection.”
For each condemned carcass or uninspected cancer eye cow which evaded detection, Rancho’s foreperson was paid $50.
Among the charges against those involved in Rancho’s massive scandal include the distribution of adulterated and misbranded meat (employees were instructed to “carve ‘USDA Condemned’ stamp out of the cattle carcasses” so they could be processed and sold), mail fraud (for creating false invoices to farmers for the disposal of condemned cows, though they were processed for human consumption), and conspiracy.
The Petaluma slaughterhouse was also responsible for the recent recall of a few Hot Pockets flavors. So far, no related illnesses have been reported. Rancho Feeding Corp. voluntarily ceased operations earlier this year after an initial recall of more than 40 thousand pounds of meat in January.
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