West Texas Provisions, Inc. of Amarillo, TX, pleaded guilty to selling more than $1 million of adulterated meat to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, announced the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Erin Nealy Cox.
The scheme included labeling whole cow hearts as ground beef. The defendants admitted to selling more than 775,000 pounds of uninspected, misbranded or adulterated meat to 32 prison institutions in 18 states—worth a total of $1,011,166.72.
The company processed whole cow hearts—which are not permitted in ground beef products—by keeping the hearts offsite until inspectors left, and then processed them on nights and weekends when inspectors weren’t working.
The lights were often kept off inside the plant while processing uninspected meat, which was then hid in the freezer when inspectors were in the building.
The defendants face up to five years in prison, and a sentencing date has not yet been set.
