Meat distributor fined $40,000 for selling ungraded beef as veal

KING — A York Region meat distributing company and its manager has been fined $40,000 for falsely labelling ungraded beef as veal, according to an OMAFRA press release.

The release says that J & J Meat Distributing Inc. of King Township in York Region “misled customers into thinking they were purchasing veal as described on the sales invoices, and then presented copies of the invoices to inspectors which were altered to describe the product as ungraded beef.” A search warrant found that during the offence period, at least 70 invoices were altered from ungraded beef to veal, at least 15,000 pounds of ungraded beef had been sold as veal and that the value of ungraded beef sold as veal was at least $60,000, said the release.

The release also states that manager Pietro (Peter) Armata “knowingly altered 12 of the original company copies of the invoices that were provided to the OMAFRA inspectors at the time of the May 2, 2016 audit, crossing out the word ‘veal’ and replacing it with the words ‘ungraded beef.’ ”

The release said the company was convicted of four counts of knowingly and falsely identifying ungraded beef as veal on sales invoices from Feb. 4, 2015 to June 29, 2016, while Armata was convicted of one count of obstructing an inspector by providing false or misleading information on May 2, 2016.

The company and manager both pleaded guilty on June 27. J & J Meat Distributing was fined $7,500 on each count, plus a $7,500 victim fine surcharge for a total of $37,500. Armata was fined $2,000 plus a $500 victim fine surcharge for a total of $2,500.