A U.S. District Court judged slapped two Carroll County men with a temporary restraining order Friday to prevent them from selling slaughtered animals on their New Windsor livestock farm.
A grand jury indicted Carroll Schisler Sr., 60, and Carroll Schisler Jr., 34, on counts of animal cruelty, selling unsanitary meat and operating a slaughterhouse without a license earlier this month.
Federal investigators told U.S. District Court Judge Andre Davis that the farmers continued to sell meat despite being ordered to stop.
The elder Schisler?s lawyer, Roland Walker, said his client is “ready to do whatever he needs to do” to obey regulations.
“He has indicated from the very beginning a willingness to fully cooperate, if they would simply specify what the problems are,” Walker said.
Father and son are scheduled for a hearing before a federal judge in Baltimore on Tuesday.
This spring, federal investigators found pigs on the Schisler farm with trichinosis, a parasitic disease. They also found piles of dead animals and livestock feeding on garbage.
According to court documents, the Schislers were slaughtering animals under “gross unsanitary conditions,” which included dried blood and other residue, such as discarded animal feet and plastic cans, on the floor. Runoff from the farm?s slaughter areas, which flowed into nearby streams, tested positive for listeria, E. coli and fecal coliform bacteria.
Investigators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture told Davis that in a July 15 surveillance of the farm, they observed people buying goats and sheep. The animals were killed on the property, singed with a torch, cut up and packed into plastic bags, inspectors said.
To contract trichinosis, a pig must consume meat from a mammal infected with the parasite, Trichinella spiralis. Humans can catch the disease by eating undercooked meat that contains the parasite, said Thomas G. Hartsock, an animal science professor.
? The Associated Press contributed to this report.
