Feds Settle Food Safety With Rat Infested Warehouse Outside Of Court

Martin Dover

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A recent federal food safety case settled last Friday in New York City shed light on the prevalence of rats in the area. The story began in April 2022 when federal investigators visited a meat and poultry warehouse on Allen Street in NYC and were stunned to find an incredibly well-fed rat population.

These rats had consumed a staggering 43,000 pounds of meat and poultry within the Ya Feng Trading warehouse. The investigation revealed that the rodents had left droppings all over the meat containers, along with nesting materials. Moreover, a dead mouse was discovered inside a walk-in cooler, and during the inspection, a rat even ran up an investigator’s leg as the rodents scattered in search of hiding places.

As a result of the inspection, a federal lawsuit was filed, accusing the warehouse of violating storage and inspection laws for meat and poultry products. Eventually, a Consent Decree was reached and announced by Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, settling the civil case. Federal District Judge Valeri Caproni approved the Consent Decree.

Under the agreement, the Ya Feng company, its owner Linmin Yang, and warehouse manager Kong Ping Ni are prohibited from engaging in any work or business involving meat and poultry.

The story garnered attention from the media, becoming yet another entry in New York City’s infamous rat tales. Previous incidents include a man falling through a sidewalk in the Bronx into a pit “teaming with rats” in 2020, rats emerging from apartment walls or even coming up through toilets, and the viral sensation of “Pizza Rat” in 2015, a large brown rat dragging a slice of pizza down the stairs to an L line station in Manhattan.

The closure of the Meat Rats case, involving chicken, pork, and other meat products, might be considered a triumph for the city’s efforts to tackle its rat population, and Linmin Yang did admit in a statement to the Court in 2022 that the warehouse did indeed have a “serious rodent issue.”