The Ontario Ministry of
Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has shut down an operation at a place that
has no meat inspection certicate, yet allowed people to come there to slaughter
lambs.
Prathab Nirupasingham told a judge in Lindsay that he
was aware that people were using his property to slaughter lambs
He was fined $1,500 plus a victim surcharge of $375.
What surprises me is that OMAFRA has found and shut down so few of these operations. I have known for at least a decade that ethnic communities in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area routinely slaughter their own sheep and goats secretly and quietly on farm properties.
I told officials at the time what I had learned and, as far as I know, they did nothing.
And I suppose you could argue that there really is no victim in this crime.
In another case heard in court in Lindsay, Norman Weber, owner of Norm’s
Smokehouse in Minden, was fined $3,000 plus a victim surcharge of $750 for
operating a meat-smoking business without proper licensing.
He gave up his licence in
late January, but inspectors found him still operating the business in late
July.
In this case, I think Weber knew the law and that he was breaking it for personal gain. As far as I'm concerned, this type of person deserves to be heavily fined and should probably be barred from every processing and selling food.
