Montana meat processor charged with assaulting inspectors
The owner of a Montana meat processing plant that was recently suspended due to “putrid” conditions has been arrested on charges of assaulting two Department of Livestock employees. Gary Wheelock, owner of Montana City Meats, was arrested on five misdemeanor charges, including two assaults, two counts of unlawful restraint and one of obstructing a police officer, reports the Independent Record.
Montana City Meats’ processing license was suspended for 90 days after a visit by four staffers on July 11. “During that visit, we found several violations (of state law) including putrid sights and smells such as fly infestations, maggots, offal, bones and skins from a previous processing day, garbage strewn about, unfinished wood surfaces, rust, blood on the floor of the cooler, and a carcass that appeared to have been hanging too long that had developed a slick surface and an odor,” Gary Hamel, the department’s Meat and Poultry Inspection chief, wrote in a July 19 letter to the company.