Three indicted in Rancho Feeding slaughterhouse scandal

A federal grand jury has indicted the former owner and two managers of a Petaluma slaughterhouse that was the target of an international meat recall on charges of distributing diseased meat and mail fraud.

Jesse “Babe” Amaral Jr., former owner of Rancho Feeding Corp., and the two employees are accused of circumventing U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection procedures for cows infected with eye cancer and processing the diseased meat in violation of federal law.

The indictment, which was filed last Thursday in the United States District Court in San Francisco and unsealed Monday, names Amaral, as well as Felix Cabrera, Rancho’s foreperson, and Eugene Corda, who as the facility’s main yard person, was responsible for receiving cattle and moving them for inspection and slaughter.

According to the indictment, Amaral directed the two men to circumvent the inspection process for diseased cows.

Federal prosecutors allege that Cabrera, or another kill floor employee at his instruction, placed heads from apparently healthy cows next to carcasses of cows with eye cancer eye. The indictment stated that this “switch and slaughter” of uninspected cancer eye cows occurred during the lunch break taken by federal meat inspectors, at a time when plant operations were supposed to cease.

Between January 2013 and January 2014, Rancho processed and distributed carcasses and meat from approximately 101 condemned cattle and 79 cows infected with eye cancer, according to the indictment.

Amaral told farmers that their cattle had died or been condemned, knowing in fact they had been sold for human consumption, according to the indictment. He allegedly billed farmers for handling fees for disposal of the carcasses instead of compensating them for the sale price.

Rancho Feeding closed the Petaluma plant Feb. 9 and recalled all 8.7 million pounds of beef processed at the facility in 2013. The USDA accused the company of circumventing inspection rules and processing “diseased and unsound animals.” It is being investigated by the USDA, the agency’s inspector general and the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.

The slaughterhouse re-opened in April under the ownership of a group of investors led by Marin Sun Farms CEO David Evans, who has promised to focus on the ethical treatment of animals.

Check back later today for more details on this breaking story.