Cargill Meat Solutions Assessed Penalty

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) entered into a consent decision and order with respect to respondent Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation (Cargill), Wichita, Kansas, on October 19, 2007. Cargill was ordered to cease and desist from failing to meet applicable accuracy tolerances established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology with regard to the dynamic monorail scales at Cargill's cattle processing plant in Schuyler, Nebraska. Cargill was also assessed a civil penalty in the amount of $22,000. The consent decision and order resolves charges that were filed on March 29, 2007, in which GIPSA alleged that Cargill did not maintain and operate an accurate scale to determine livestock carcass weights at its cattle processing plant in Schuyler, Nebraska. Nebraska's Division of Weights and Measures assisted GIPSA in its investigation of Cargill's weighing practices.