Rhode Island slaughterhouse sentenced for fraudulently applying marks of inspection to meat

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A beef slaughterhouse in Johnston has been fined $20,000 and received three years of federal probation for fraudulently claiming product sold to customers had been federally inspected and passed under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA).

Rhode Island Beef and Veal and its co-owner Michael A. Quattrucci had pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding customers, as well as preparing beef without complying with the FMIA.

They also pleaded guilty for defrauding customers for using an official inspection mark of the Secretary of Agriculture without authorization.

Quattrucci was sentenced on July 27, 2023 to one year of federal probation and a fine of $1,000.

According to court documents, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) served RI Beef a notice of suspension and withdrew its inspector.

Eight days later a USDA inspector visited the plant and observed employees packing meat and fraudulently applying USDA marks of inspection to the product.

Other packs of meat with the USDA stickers were found stored in bins and no inspector was present, which is required by law for the marks to be applied.

A USDA investigator visited the slaughterhouse the next day and took photos of the illegally marked packages from the day before.

Also discovered were 224 pounds of unmarked ground beef and a 594-pound half beef carcass that had been cut into parts for delivery to a Connecticut restaurant supplier.