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Co-Owner Of Northern California Slaughterhouse Pleads Guilty To Processing Cattle With Cancer

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) _ A co-owner of a Northern California slaughterhouse at the center of a massive recall has pleaded guilty to processing cattle with cancer for consumption.

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that Jesse Amaral Jr., owner of the defunct Rancho Feeding Corp., acknowledged distributing adulterated, misbranded and uninspected meat.

He's the third person to plead guilty in the conspiracy that sparked a series of recalls, including one for 8.7 million pounds of beef in the U.S. and Canada.

Prosecutors say that for two years, Amaral instructed employees at the slaughterhouse north of San Francisco to process cattle that U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture veterinarians rejected for having cancerous eyes.

A co-owner pleaded guilty last year, saying he had employees swap the heads of diseased cattle for healthy ones.

There were no reports of anyone becoming sick.

Amaral faces a long jail term and fines when he is sentenced in July.

© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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