modern meat
J Wootton
MODERN MEAT
Major flaws in safety net
Based on a seven- month investigation, this two-part series reveals
major flaws in the U.S. government's meat safety net, which can lead to
death, as it did last summer in the case of 3-year-old Brianna Kriefall
of South Milwaukee. A joint effort by the Washington Post and "Dateline
NBC" examines the spread of the deadly E. coli bacteria. Go to Part 2
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/apr01/ecoli11041001a.asp
Animal mistreatment goes unchecked at slaughterhouses
Review finds law governing butchering standards often violated
Washington Post
Last Updated: April 10, 2001
Part 1 | Part 2
Pasco, Wash. - It takes 25 minutes to turn a live steer into steak at
the modern slaughterhouse where Ramon Moreno works. For 20 years, his
post was "second-legger," a job that entails cutting hocks off carcasses
as they whirl past at a rate of 309 an hour.
E. coli Spread
PENALTY?
Although a few plants have been forced to halt production for a few
hours because of alleged animal cruelty, such sanctions are rare.
THE REPORT
Based on a seven-month investigation, this two-part series reveals major
flaws in the U.S. government's meat safety net, which can lead to death,
as it did last summer in the case of 3-year-old Brianna Kriefall of
South Milwaukee. A joint effort with "Dateline NBC" examines the spread
of deadly E. coli bacteria.
GRAPHICS
• E. coli: How it affects the body
• E. coli bacteria: A closer look
ARCHIVED COVERAGE
8/24/00:
• Sizzler: Beef traced to Colorado
8/9/00:
• Sizzler E. coli: Cases reach 60
8/8/00:
• Sizzler: Keep food improperly
8/5/00:
• Sizzler: Requirements set
8/4/00:
• Outbreak Focus on tainted meat
• FDA: E. coli drug OK'd
• Irradiated beef: Buyers ask for it
• Graphic: Irradiation process
• Editorial: Food safety a shared duty
8/3/00:
• Tosa: E. coli strikes 2 patrons
• Kane: Biggest scares are unseen
8/2/00:
• Lawsuits: Flurry not unusual
8/1/00:
• Watermelon: E. coli traced
• Irradiated beef: Hitting the shelves
• Debate: How to make food safer
7/29/00:
• New Cases: 9 linked to Sizzler
• 346,700 lbs: Ground beef recalled
7/28/00:
• E. coli: 3-year-old girl dies
7/27/00:
• Sizzler: 1993 E. coli outbreaks
7/25/00:
• Statement: Health Department
• Editorial: Putting food safety first
The cattle were supposed to be dead before they got to Moreno. But too
often they weren't.
"They blink. They make noises," he said softly. "The head moves, the
eyes are wide and looking around."
Still, Moreno would cut. On bad days, he says, dozens of animals reached
his station clearly alive and conscious. Some would survive as far as
the tail cutter, the belly ripper, the hide puller. "They die," Moreno
said, "piece by piece."
Under a 23-year-old federal law, slaughtered cattle and hogs first must
be "stunned" - rendered insensible to pain - with a blow to the head or
an electric shock. But at overtaxed plants, the law is sometimes broken,
with cruel consequences for animals as well as workers.
Enforcement records, interviews, videos and worker affidavits describe
repeated violations of the Humane Slaughter Act at dozens of
slaughterhouses, ranging from the smallest, custom butcheries to modern,
automated establishments such as the sprawling IBP Inc. plant here where
Moreno works.
"In plants all over the United States, this happens on a daily basis,"
said Lester Friedlander, a veterinarian and formerly chief government
inspector at a Pennsylvania hamburger plant. "I've seen it happen. And
I've talked to other veterinarians. They feel it's out of control."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees the treatment of animals in
meat plants, but enforcement of the law varies dramatically. Although a
few plants have been forced to halt production for a few hours because
of alleged animal cruelty, such sanctions are rare.
For example, the government took no action against a Texas beef company
that was cited 22 times in 1998 for violations that included chopping
hooves off live cattle. In another case, agency supervisors failed to
take action on multiple complaints of animal cruelty at a Florida beef
plant and fired an animal health technician for reporting the problems
to a humane society.
In the past three years, a new meat inspection system that shifted
responsibility to industry has made it harder to catch and report
cruelty problems, some federal inspectors say. Under the new system,
implemented in 1998, the agency no longer tracks the number of
humane-slaughter violations its inspectors find each year.
"Privatization of meat inspection has meant a quiet death to the already
meager enforcement of the Humane Slaughter Act," said Gail Eisnitz of
the Humane Farming Association, a group that advocates better treatment
of farm animals. "USDA isn't simply relinquishing its humane-slaughter
oversight to the meat industry but is - without the knowledge and
consent of Congress - abandoning this function altogether."
The USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service, which is responsible for meat
inspection, says it has not relaxed its oversight. In January, the
agency ordered a review of 100 slaughterhouses. An inspection service
memo reminded its 7,600 inspectors they had an "obligation to ensure
compliance" with humane-handling laws.
The review comes as pressure grows on both industry and regulators to
improve conditions for the 155 million cattle, hogs, horses and sheep
slaughtered each year. McDonald's and Burger King have been subject to
boycotts by animal rights groups protesting mistreatment of livestock.
As a result, two years ago, McDonald's began requiring suppliers to
abide by the American Meat Institute's Good Management Practices for
Animal Handling and Stunning. The company also began conducting annual
audits of meat plants. Last week, Burger King announced it would require
suppliers to follow the meat institute's standards.
Industry groups acknowledge that sloppy killing has tangible
consequences for consumers as well as for company profits. Fear and pain
cause animals to produce hormones that damage meat and cost companies
tens of millions of dollars a year in discarded products, according to
industry estimates.
Industry officials say they also recognize an ethical imperative to
treat animals with compassion. Science is blurring the distinction
between the mental processes of humans and lower animals, discovering,
for example, that even the lowly rat may dream. Americans thus are
becoming more sensitive to the suffering of food animals, even as they
consume increasing numbers of them.
Many violations
Clearly, not all plants have gotten the message.
A Washington Post computer analysis of government enforcement records
found 527 violations of humane-handling regulations from 1996 to 1997,
the last years for which complete records were available. The offenses
range from overcrowded stockyards to incidents in which live animals
were cut, skinned or scalded.
Through the Freedom of Information Act, the Post obtained enforcement
documents from 28 plants that had high numbers of offenses or had drawn
penalties for violating humane-handling laws. The Post also interviewed
dozens of current and former federal meat inspectors and slaughterhouse
workers. A reporter reviewed affidavits and secret video recordings made
inside two plants.
Among the findings:
One Texas plant, Supreme Beef Packers in Ladonia, had 22 violations in
six months. During one inspection, federal officials found nine live
cattle dangling from an overhead chain. But managers at the plant, which
announced last fall it was ceasing operations, resisted USDA warnings,
saying its practices were no different from those of others in the
industry.
At the Farmers Livestock Cooperative processing plant in Hawaii,
inspectors documented 14 humane-slaughter violations in as many months.
Records from 1997 and 1998 describe hogs that were walking and squealing
after being stunned as many as four times. In a memo to the USDA, the
company said it fired the stunner and increased monitoring of
slaughtering.
At an Excel Corp. beef plant in Fort Morgan, Colo., production was
halted for a day in 1998 after workers allegedly cut off the leg of a
live cow whose limbs had become wedged in a piece of machinery. In
imposing the sanction, U.S. inspectors cited a string of violations in
the previous two years, including the cutting and skinning of live
cattle. The company, responding to one such charge, contended that it
was normal for animals to blink and arch their backs after being stunned
and such "muscular reaction" can occur up to six hours after death.
"None of these reactions indicate the animal is still alive," the
company wrote to the USDA.
Hogs, unlike cattle, are dunked in tanks of hot water after they are
stunned, to soften the hide for skinning. As a result, a botched
slaughter condemns some hogs to being scalded and drowned. Secret
videotape from an Iowa pork plant shows hogs squealing and kicking as
they are being lowered into the water.
USDA documents and interviews with inspectors and plant workers
attributed many of the problems to poor training, faulty or poorly
maintained equipment or excessive production speeds.
Preventing this kind of suffering is officially a top priority for the
USDA's inspection service. By law, a humane-slaughter violation is among
a handful of offenses that can result in an immediate halt in production
- and cost a meatpacker hundreds or even thousands of dollars each idle
minute.
In reality, many inspectors describe humane slaughter as a blind spot:
Inspectors' regular duties rarely take them to the chambers where
stunning occurs. Inconsistencies in enforcement, training and
record-keeping hamper the agency's ability to identify problems.
Some inspectors see little evidence the agency is interested in hearing
about problems. Under the new inspection system, the USDA stopped
tracking the number of violations and dropped all mention of humane
slaughter from its list of rotating tasks for inspectors.