Alleged Slaughterhouse Abuse Has School Districts Scrambling
Feb 4th, 2008 • Posted in: NewsTape shows workers at California plant poking and kicking cows apparently too weak to walk
LOS ANGELES
An ethics controversy involving the treatment of slaughterhouse animals has education officials in several parts of the United States asking school districts to stop serving many beef products.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the action came after allegations that a California-based slaughterhouse butchered and distributed sick cattle. So-called downer cattle are more likely to carry certain diseases.
According to the Times report, the California Department of Education asked schools to temporarily take many beef products off their menus after the Humane Society of the United States released a video the group said was obtained during a six-week undercover investigation.
The video shows cows, apparently too sick or weak to walk, being jabbed with forklift blades, kicked, shocked, or sprayed with jets of water, according to reports from ABC News and CBS News.
“The attempt was to make them so distressed, to cause them so much suffering that these animals would get up and walk into the slaughterhouse,” Humane Society president Wayne Pacelle told CBS.
The animals were processed at the Hallmark Meat Packing Company, which supplies Westland Meat Company, a major supplier to the USDA’s school lunch program, according to CBS. Westland suspended operations at the plant, with the company’s president and CEO saying he was “shocked, saddened, and sickened” by the video.
School districts in other parts of the nation, including Washington State and Minnesota, have pulled some beef products pending the outcome of an investigation, according to various press reports.
Sources: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Feb. 1 — Los Angeles Times, Feb. 1 — ABC News, Feb. 1 — CBS, Jan. 31– San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 31 — St. Paul Pioneer Press, Jan. 31.
For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Jan. 22 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 7 — Related Newsline story, Oct. 22, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Aug. 13, 2007 — Related Newsline story, June 4, 2007.
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