Slaughterhouse Owner Gets Prison Time For Uninspected Meat

Jesse “Babe” Amaral Jr., the Rancho Feeding slaughterhouse owner whose sale of meat from condemned and uninspected cattle led to a nationwide food recall two years ago, was sentenced Wednesday to one year in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release.

Amaral, 78, was spared a greater sentence because of his poor health. But U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer said it would send the wrong message if the former Petaluma slaughterhouse owner didn’t serve some time in prison for his crime. He called Amaral’s actions a “betrayal of trust” for the hundreds of millions of Americans who rely on the federal inspection system to ensure food safety.

“It’s one of the most cynical, calculated circumventions that I’ve ever seen or heard of,” Breyer said. He suggested it was only due to luck that no one had become ill or died from the sale of the condemned and uninspected meat.

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