Feds admit harassing small Butte meat plant, but take no action

[Ptah]

Editor's note: First of a two-part series.

As a boy growing up in Butte, Bart Riley loved spending time at the family business, Riley Meats, on West Park Street. Young Bart and his siblings would help out cleaning the shop after his father was done cutting meat for the day.

"I must have been good at it, because more and more the task fell to me," he remembers with a grin. "I enjoyed it."

He still enjoys it. As the third-generation proprietor of Riley Meats — his grandfather started the business in 1948 — he now gets to clean up after himself, scouring every inch of his small wholesale and retail meat-cutting operation with steam sprayed at 225 degrees. Walk in any day — as federal and county inspectors have attested — and the little shop, still at 134 W. Park Street, is immaculate.


But the consistent praise from inspectors has not prevented the past 12 years from being a federal regulatory nightmare for Bart Riley and his family.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/feds-admit-harassing-small-butte-meat-plant-but-take-no/article_8f449074-f663-581d-b1bc-f913f4c3cfbd.html

[Kali]

1. jebus!

[Ptah]

2. Part two: 'Legg regs' take their toll on plants throughout Montana

John Truzzolino is the latest in his family to operate a tamale factory in Butte.

His grandfather, Vincent Truzzolino, started his business in 1896, opening a shop on Mercury Street that his family operated in the same spot until 1975.

The family, originally from Sicily, emigrated to New York and from there to Butte — by way of Louisiana, where apparently Vincent Truzzolino learned about tamales. He used an Italian-style, polenta-like corn meal to coat his tamales instead of masa, the Mexican version. And his large-sized tamales were hand-tied.

When the business closed in 1979, John Truzzolino continued to make the delicious tamales for family and friends. One day his daughter asked him a question: "These are so good, why aren't you selling them?" And that was enough to get the family back in the business.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/legg-regs-take-their-toll-on-plants-throughout-montana/article_130f1e33-63a3-55e5-9705-d93235b6e902.html