Local News in Brief : Meat Wholesaler Sentenced in Scam

A Gardena meat wholesaler has been sentenced to 30 days in prison and fined $15,000 for adding chicken gizzards to hamburger and passing the mixture off as pure beef.

Gerald Tully, 53, president of Tully Premium Meats Inc., pleaded guilty in August to one count of selling and transporting adulterated and misbranded foods. Tully faced a maximum prison term of one year, but U.S. District Judge William Rea ordered him to spend 30 days in prison and three years on probation.

A company vice president, who pleaded guilty to the same charge, earlier was fined $7,500 and ordered to perform community service.

The men admitted selling 150 pounds of the beef-and-chicken-gizzard mixture to a Los Angeles catering company on May 1, 1987.

The meat-mixing scheme posed a potential health hazard, according to Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeffrey C. Eglash, because chicken gizzards can contain salmonella bacteria.