Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters

Slaughterhouse Owner Sentenced to Prison After Selling Meat From Diseased Cows 

February 16, 2016 Sarah Van Alt, Mercy for Animals 

Last week, the owner of Rancho Feeding Co., a slaughterhouse in Petaluma, California, was sentenced to a year in federal prison after selling meat from cattle who were sick or condemned by government veterinarians. 

According to SFGate.com, the owner “admitted ordering employees between 2012 and January 2014 to process cattle that had been condemned by a government veterinarian—meaning they were unfit for human consumption—and to avoid full inspection of cattle suffering from epitherlioma, or eye cancer.” 

None of this should come as a surprise. In 2014, the USDA recalled nearly 9 million pounds of meat from this same facility. 

CNN reported at the time: Investigators now believe that Rancho was buying diseased dairy cows and processing them when government inspectors weren't there. After the cows were killed, employees would hide the warning signs of cancer by trimming off diseased parts, using a fake stamp of approval or even replacing the heads of sick cows with ones from healthy animals. 

Grossed out? You should be. Factory farmers not only pose serious health risks for consumers; they also treat animals as unfeeling commodities. Confined in cruel cages and crates, mutilated without anesthesia, and ruthlessly slaughtered, these animals know nothing but terror and pain.

Previous news: August 22, 2014 Northern California slaughterhouse owners charged with processing cows with cancer

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