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Group releases graphic video, claims animal mistreatment at MN slaughterhouse

An animal-welfare group said an undercover video it released on Wednesday shows workers dragging and beating pigs at a slaughterhouse that supplies Hormel Foods Corp., allegations the supplier disputes.

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U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman Adam Tarr says the actions depicted in the video are “completely unacceptable”.

An investigator for Compassion Over Killing, a Washington animal-rights group, secretly recorded footage during the five months he worked at a Quality Pork Processors Inc. plant in Austin, Minn., where Hormel is based, the group said. The video shows pigs being dragged and beaten, writhing around while bleeding, covered in feces, and suffering from apparent “puss-filled abscesses”. The hog slaughterhouse supplies to Hormel Foods, the makers of SPAM. “The actions depicted in the video under review are completely unacceptable”, it added. The agency says it will aggressively investigate and take appropriate action if it verifies the video’s authenticity. “Had these actions been observed by the inspectors, they would have resulted in immediate regulatory action against the plant”.

On October 27, Compassion Over Killing, an organization advocating a vegetarian diet, handed over “many hours” of raw video to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as well as local authorities, then met with federal investigators, according to the Huffington Post. “We have strict policies around the humane treatment of animals – it’s a priority”, said Nate Jansen, human resources vice president for Quality Pork in Austin.

Hormel says it has zero tolerance for inhumane treatment of animals and will work with Quality Pork Producers and the USDA to take any necessary corrective action. A second employee also was disciplined with a written warning and order to undergo retraining, according to The Associated Press. “I’ve got complete trust in the foods that we produce”.

Hogs “are being processed so quickly that errors are being made”, Meier said.

QPP is part of the USDA’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point-Based Inspection Models Project (HIMP), a program to create a “flexible, more efficient, fully integrated” system of meat processing.

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“That means this facility operates at faster line speeds than nearly any other facility in the USA”, Compassion Over Killing said in a statement describing the video. That program has led to more inspections being carried out by company employees. Workers treated pigs poorly to keep up with rapid production speeds, a violation of…

Abdelrahman Younis