Chicken Sold to NYC Food Carts Wasn’t Properly Inspected by Distributor: Prosecutors

Food carts across the city may have used chicken that was not inspected properly by federal officials or labeled correctly, according to a lawsuit.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan stated in a criminal complaint that a local food distributor may to blame for chicken that was sold to customers not having gone through proper inspection. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York alleged that N and M Food Wholesale Supply prepared chicken kebab skewers out of a room in a warehouse — without federal inspection.

The distributor was also accused of not properly labeling or packaging more than 900 pounds of that poultry.

“Every individual deserves the assurance that the food they purchase is properly inspected and safe to eat,” said Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Paul Kiecker. “FSIS remains committed to public health and we will take swift action to protect American consumers.”

In Nov. 2018, N and M purchased about 375 pounds of chicken shish kebabs that hadn’t been federally inspected, then offered it for sale, according to the criminal complaint. About 165 pounds of that to wholesale customers. Similar incidents occurred in Aug. 2020, Feb. 2021 and May 2021, prosecutors claimed.

In the most recent incident, N and M allegedly removed about 280 pounds of federally inspected chicken leg meat from its packaging. Then, in its warehouse, the distributor cut and trimmed fat from the pieces, marinated the meat, skewered them and then wrapped them up to put them back in their original boxes, which had labels marking that those had been inspected.

Days after the incident, the meat that had been improperly labeled was voluntarily destroyed by the distributor, prosecutors said.

The company admitted to wrongdoing and will face further legal action if they violate legal action if they violate government regulations again. Attorney information for N and M and its owners was not immediately clear.