Grainger slaughterhouse raided by ICE had history of meat-packing violations

The Grainger County slaughterhouse raided last week by federal agents in the region's largest roundup of undocumented workers in a decade paid thousands in fines to the federal government for shorting farmers on meat prices years before, records show.

Southeastern Provision LLC paid a $5,000 penalty in June 2012 for what U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors called "willful" violations of federal weights and measures regulations at the plant on Helton Road in Bean Station, Tennessee.

The company's owners, James and Pamela Brantley, ultimately didn't admit guilt but also didn't dispute inspectors' findings, according to an administrative law judge's order settling the case.

The violations stretched back as far as May 2007 and ran through September 2011, according to USDA records. Southeastern bought meat by the pound and underpaid at least one farmer by nearly 140 pounds, according to a complaint.

Hot weights and cold facts

Federal law requires the use of uniform, standardized equipment on scales at slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants to ensure fair recording of carcasses' weight. Inspections found Southeastern in violation of that law on at least three occasions, according to the complaint - on Aug. 13, 2008, on Aug. 18, 2010, and again on Sept. 28, 2011.

The plant's scale also had no printer to automatically record weights. The complaint doesn't explain how workers recorded weights without a printer hooked up to the scale.

Most of the meat appears to have been beef, weighed shortly after the kill before rigor mortis set in. Over a span of two days in August 2008, Southeastern underpaid for 23 carcasses, according to the complaint.

The problems apparently persisted. One farm, Williams Cattle Co., got shortchanged by 138 pounds for a cow slaughtered Aug. 18, 2010.

Southeastern's most recent USDA inspection results weren't immediately available.

Owners not charged in raid

None of the previous violations involved hiring undocumented workers, although federal agents wrote in a search warrant the hirings date back to that time.

No charges have been filed against the Brantleys in the raid, which happened Thursday, and James Brantley has turned down the chance to talk about it.

At least 10 of the 97 workers arrested in the raid had been deported before, according to court records - one of them twice. Those 10 could appear in U.S. District Court in Greeneville on Friday.

Supporters have rallied behind the workers since the raid, with advocates arguing the case illustrates the need for immigration reform.