California Meat Inspector Sentenced In E. Coli Beef Scheme That Led To Massive Recall
The U.S. Attorney's Office said Monday that Jim Johnson of Downey was also ordered to pay more than $300,000 in restitution.
The 67-year-old pleaded guilty in November to federal charges of falsifying inspection documents.
Johnson worked as a consultant for Huntington Meat Packing, a former processing and distribution company in Montebello.
Prosecutors say he knowingly provided federal food safety inspectors with papers that stated a beef sample had tested negative for E. coli, when in fact it had tested positive for the pathogen.
Johnson's actions led to the recall of more than five million pounds of beef products.
A Petaluma meat processing facility worker was sentenced to prison for his role in a scheme to distribute adulterated, misbranded, and uninspected meat.
That worker admitted to placing heads of healthy cows next to the carcasses of cows that showed signs of cancer of the eye in an effort to sidestep inspectors.