PROVIDENCE – Almost a year after admitting in federal court that it defrauded customers and violated the Federal Meat Inspection Act five years ago, a Johnston-based beef slaughterhouse was fined $20,000 and placed on three years’ probation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Rhode Island announced Tuesday.
Federal officials said Rhode Island Beef and Veal and one of its owners, Michael A. Quattrucci,
pleaded guilty back in June 2023 to charges that they used an official inspection mark of the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture on its products, falsely claiming in 2019 that the beef was properly inspected. This occurred after the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety Inspection Service suspended the company and withdrew its inspector in August 2019.
Federal investigations also found at the time the company had more than 200 pounds of unmarked ground beef and a 594-pound half-carcass of beef cut and set for delivery to a Connecticut-based customer that supplies restaurants with meat products, the attorney’s office said.
Quattrucci was also fined $1,000 and placed on federal probation for one year, the attorney’s office said.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.