Company pleads guilty to shipping feathers in pet food

ST. LOUIS – A California feed company and a suburban St. Louis commodities broker have pleaded guilty in federal court to shipping turkey ingredients containing poultry feathers to pet food manufacturers.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday that Wilbur-Ellis Feed LLC and commodities broker Collin McAtee are likely to be placed on probation at sentencing later this year, but required to pay nearly $5.5 million. Both recently pleaded guilty to misdemeanour charges.

McAtee’s lawyer, John Rogers, says McAtee has “accepted responsibility for his actions.”

Federal authorities say Wilbur-Ellis Feed substituted lower cost ingredients for chicken and turkey meal in shipments from a Texas plant to pet food manufacturers in 2013 and 2014. Some shipments included ground-up feathers.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com