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4 at slaughterhouse behind beef recall indicted

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Published August 19, 2014 12:59am ET
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4 at slaughterhouse behind beef recall indicted
File - In this January 13, 2014 file photo, cows wait to be butchered at Rancho Veal slaughterhouse in Petaluma, Calif. A federal grand jury has indicted four officials at the Northern California slaughterhouse at the center of a massive beef recall, alleging they slaughtered cows with cancer while inspectors were on their lunch breaks and distributed the diseased cattle, prosecutors announced Monday Aug. 18, 2014. Petaluma-based Rancho Feeding Corp. halted operations in February after a series of recalls, including one for 8.7 million pounds of beef. The meat was sold at Walmart and other national chains and used in products, including Hot Pockets. (AP Photo/The Press Democrat, Conner Jay, File) | Conner Jay

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A Northern California slaughterhouse involved in a massive beef recall processed cows with cancer while U.S. livestock inspectors took lunch breaks and later distributed the diseased cattle, according to federal charges announced Monday.

Prosecutors alleged that the owners of Petaluma-based Rancho Feeding Corp. schemed with employees to slaughter about 79 cows with skin cancer of the eye rather than stopping plant operations during inspector lunch breaks. Then, the government alleges, plant workers swapped the heads of diseased cattle with heads of healthy cows to hide them from inspectors.

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