Rhode Island Beef Slaughterhouse, Owner Admit to Violating the Federal Meat Inspection Act

Jun 09, 2023

A Johnston, RI, beef slaughterhouse and an owner of the company have admitted to a federal judge that they committed fraud when they claimed that product they processed and suppled to customers had been federally inspected and passed as required under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) when, in fact, it had not, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Rhode Island Beef and Veal and one of its owners, Michael A. Quattrucci, pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding customers by claiming that beef had been inspected under the FMIA, as well as by preparing beef without complying with inspection requirements of the FMIA. Rhode Island Beef and Veal also pleaded guilty to a charge of defrauding customers by use of an official inspection mark of the Secretary of Agriculture without authorization.

According to information presented to the court, on August 20, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety Inspection Service served RI Beef and Veal with a notice of suspension and withdrew its inspector.

Eight days after the suspension was imposed and the inspector was withdrawn, a USDA supervisor visited the plant and found employees packing various cuts of meat and applying USDA marks of inspections to the meat.

Source : justice.gov

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.