Quattrucci’s Beef Slaughterhouse Fined $20,000 for Meat Inspection Fraud

Beef Slaughterhouse Owner’s $20,000 Fine and 3-Year Probation a Result of Meat Inspection Scandal

PROVIDENCE, RI – In a shocking case of meat inspection fraud, a Johnston, RI, beef slaughterhouse was fined $20,000 and placed on three years of federal probation by U.S. District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy for fraudulently claiming that product they processed and supplied to customers had been federally inspected and passed as required under the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) when, in fact, it had not.

The case centers around Rhode Island Beef and Veal and its owner, Michael A. Quattrucci, a Johnston resident, who pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding customers by claiming that beef had been inspected under the FMIA, as well as preparing beef without complying with inspection requirements of the FMIA. Additionally, Rhode Island Beef and Veal pleaded guilty to a charge of defrauding customers by use of 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 ordered to pay a fine of $1,000. The scheme, which took place in August 2019, involved employees packing various cuts of meat and fraudulently applying USDA marks of inspections to the meat. The marks were applied despite the fact that no inspector was present, as is required by law.

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 later, a USDA supervisor visited the plant and discovered evidence of the fraud, including packaged meat with USDA stickers attached and stored in bins. A day later, a USDA investigator took photos of the illegally marked packages of beef and noted 224 pounds of unmarked ground beef and a 594-pound half carcass of beef that had been freshly cut into primal parts for delivery to a customer in Connecticut.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind M. Shah, who worked tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice. The matter was investigated by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, which uncovered the shocking evidence of meat inspection fraud.

The public should be assured that measures are in place to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future. As Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind M. Shah noted, “The integrity of our food supply chain is of utmost importance, and we will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that meat inspection requirements are upheld.

The fine of $20,000 and three-year probation are a testament to the seriousness with which the court views meat inspection fraud. As the case demonstrates, there are serious consequences for those who engage in such practices. The public can rest assured that the Department of Justice will continue to work to uphold the law and protect the integrity of our food supply chain.

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