4 Companies Are Charged With Food Safety Violations

Prosecutors on Thursday charged 10 people and four companies in Los Angeles with violating federal food safety laws in cases ranging from the alleged sale of rat-contaminated meat to the smuggling of Japanese-raised Kobe beef into the United States.

One case, dating to 2001, involves the Leonard Meat Co. of Vernon, where the U.S. Department of Agriculture seized 13,000 pounds of meat that inspectors said was contaminated with feces and showed signs of having been gnawed by rodents. The company, its president, Donald Leroy Lynch, 66, of Garden Grove, and warehouse manager Jagada Joe Lynch, 29, of Los Alamitos, were charged with selling adulterated meat.

In another case, Masato Kagaya, 39, owner of a restaurant in Little Tokyo, and Masaho Hirahara, 49, of Kanagawa, Japan, were charged with smuggling $92,000 worth of Kobe beef into the United States. Kobe beef is a delicacy that sells for more than $120 a pound. Japanese beef is barred from import because of concerns about mad cow disease.

The Ariza Cheese Co. and a former supervisor, Jamie Rubalcava, 42, of Bellflower, were charged with shipping fresh cheese that was contaminated with listeria, a potentially lethal pathogen, from California to stores in New York in 2002. The company recalled nearly 10,000 packages from 250 stores in both states.

Three other cases involved the illegal import of food products that are banned because they might carry the highly contagious Newcastle virus. In 1971, an outbreak of the disease nearly wiped out California’s poultry industry, infecting more than 1,300 flocks and resulting in the destruction of 12 million birds.

Wha Soo Boon Corp. of Los Angeles and Soon Shin Kim, 49, and his wife, Jennifer Jung Kim, 45, both of La Canada-Flintridge, were charged with falsifying shipping documents to smuggle from South Korea kimchee balls filled with meat and poultry. The import of meat and poultry from South Korea is prohibited because of suspected diseases.

Minh’s Meat Co. of Santa Ana and owners Minh Dieu Huynh, 46, of Santa Ana and his brother Quang Kim Huynh, 45, of Cerritos were charged with smuggling into the U.S. chicken and duck feet falsely labeled as coconuts and other fruits. Vietnamese poultry products are banned because they could spread Newcastle disease.

Another importer of duck feet from Vietnam, Su Van Ho, 47, of Rosemead, owner of Vincent Seafood of South El Monte, was charged with introducing prohibited poultry products into the United States.