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About 1600 kilograms of raw meat destined for a specialty food store in Ottawa was seized by police, declared unfit for human consumption and destroyed.

Ontario Provincial Police said that on Thursday morning a highway enforcement officer stopped a food van that was suspected to be overloaded heading east on Highway 401 at Mallorytown.

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The investigation revealed that the truck was over its registered gross weight, did not have a valid commercial vehicle operator’s licence, no annual inspection papers, no log book, no pre-trip inspection, and the tires were overloaded for their rating.

Police, along with the Leeds and Grenville health department, inspected the load and discovered the van contained unrefrigerated and thawed chicken and meat products destined for a specialty food store in Ottawa.

Several charges have been laid against the 41-year-old Toronto driver.

The meat products were declared unfit for consumption and destroyed.

Police would not reveal the name of the retail outlet.

Police photos showed some of the chicken was packed in boxes from Wellington Poultry Ltd. in Arthur, Ont., just north of Kitchener. A call to the poultry retailer was not returned.

The investigation continues.