California Slaughterhouse Halts Operations; Tracking Meat

A California slaughterhouse at the center of a massive beef recall has voluntarily halted operations, as it tries to track down all of its beef shipments over the past year, a newspaper reported.

Petaluma-based Rancho Feeding Corp. was compiling a list of companies affected by the recall, its owner, Robert Singleton, told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat on Monday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Saturday that the company was recalling more than 8.7 million pounds of beef products that it processed from Jan. 1, 2013 through Jan. 7, 2014 and shipped to distribution centers and retail stores in California, Florida, Illinois and Texas.

The USDA said the facility processed diseased and unhealthy animals without a full federal inspection.  The agency said without a full inspection, the recalled products were unfit for human consumption. They include beef carcasses, oxtail, liver, cheeks, tripe, tongue and veal bones.

The company had previously recalled more than 40,000 pounds of meat products produced on Jan. 8 that also didn't undergo a full inspection.

Singleton told the Press Democrat the company undertook the recall out of an abundance of caution and regrets any inconvenience to customers. He declined further comment, the newspaper reported.

Representatives from the company declined to speak to NBC Bay Area on Tuesday.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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