Queens Halal Food Company Settles After Breaking Inspection Laws: Feds

QUEENS — A meat and poultry distributor in Jamaica settled after it sold food that was not properly inspected over the course of five years, federal prosecutors said.

USA Halal Foods and its president Kashiif Saeed settled with the United States after selling and transporting meat and poultry that was misbranded and not federally inspected or passed for five years through 2022, said Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Between 2017 and 2022, USA Halal Foods and Saeed offered for sale or transportation goat, lamb, beef, and chicken products that were misbranded and not inspected and passed by the Food Safety and Inspection Service, Peace said.

The meat distributor also did not keep and maintain records that fully and accurately disclosed all transactions, officials said.

During this time, the federal agency sent USA Halal Foods four warning notices, court records show.

USA Halal Foods packaged and transported the meat to New York Meat and Fish Market Corp., located in The Bronx, and sold the products to United Petroleum & Convenience Shop Corp., based in Suffern, court records show.

The Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act prohibit the sale, transportation, offer for sale or transportation of misbranded meats that have not been federally inspected.