Prison time for sale of meat from ailing cattle

A foreman at a Petaluma slaughterhouse was sentenced to three months in federal prison Friday for his role in a scheme to sell meat from ailing cattle that had not been inspected, leading to a nationwide recall of 8.7 million pounds of beef and veal products in 2014.

Felix Cabrera, 56, of Santa Rosa pleaded guilty in November 2014 to conspiring to distribute adulterated, misbranded and uninspected meat. Three others, including Jesse Amaral, owner of the former Rancho Feeding Corp., have been sentenced on similar charges.

Amaral admitted ordering employees between 2012 and January 2014 to process cattle that had been condemned by a government veterinarian — meaning they were unfit for human consumption — and to avoid full inspection of cattle suffering from eye cancer.

Cabrera, who supervised the “kill floor” at the slaughterhouse, admitted ordering other employees to use carvers to remove “condemned” stamps from cattle carcasses, prosecutors said. They said he also admitted putting heads from apparently healthy cows next to the carcasses of cows showing signs of eye cancer.

The U. S. Department of Agriculture

ordered the recall and closed the slaughterhouse after learning that employees had processed and sold meat from 101 condemned cattle and an additional 79 that had suffered cancer. A defense lawyer said there have been no reports of illnesses among consumers. Amaral was sentenced last month to a year in prison. Robert Singleton, owner of Rancho Veal Corp., which purchased cattle for the slaughterhouse, was sentenced to three months in prison and three months of home detention on March 2, and Eugene Corda, a yardman at the slaughterhouse, was given six months of home detention.

The sentences were imposed by U. S. District Judge Charles Breyer.