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Feb. 2014 Update: Central Valley Meat Shut Down Again by USDA – This Time for Unsanitary Conditions
Read the Los Angeles Times & Associated Press reports.
Aug. 21, 2012: COK’s Undercover Video Prompts USDA to Shut Down CA Slaughterhouse & Suspend Federal Purchases from Facility. In-N-Out Burger, Costco, and McDonald’s Also Sever Ties.
An undercover video, filmed by a Compassion Over Killing investigator, exposes rampant animal abuse and suffering inside Central Valley Meat Co. (CVM), a slaughterhouse in Hanford, California. CVM is a major supplier to the USDA’s National School Lunch Program and other federal food initiatives.
Like all federally inspected slaughterhouses, CVM is required to comply with federal animal welfare requirements as well as California’s animal protection laws. However, COK’s whistleblowing video uncovers acts of cruelty that appear to violate both state and federal laws.
After viewing the footage, the USDA shut down the facility, citing “egregious inhumane handling and treatment of livestock.”
Former USDA inspector and supervisor Lester Friedlander, DVM, also reviewed COK’s video and stated, “I could not believe the repeated Humane Slaughter Violations that occurred… The company… should be held accountable for these violations.”
In addition to selling meat to the USDA, CVM also supplies major companies, including In-N-Out Burger, a California-based burger chain. In response to this investigation, however, In-N-Out Burger immediately severed ties with CVM.
Compassion Over Killing has learned that McDonald’s and Costco have also severed supply ties with this facility.
See news coverage: ABC World News, CNN, New York Times, Associated Press, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, and UK’s Daily Mail.
Most of the animals slaughtered by CVM are “spent” dairy cows who are no longer economically viable as milk-producers to the dairy industry. It’s shameful – and illegal – that these cows, many of whom are sick or injured, are forced to endure such blatant abuses at the hands of the meat industry. And it’s alarming that this was happening in a USDA-inspected facility with meat from this facility being fed to our nation’s children.
In 2008, the Humane Society of the United States uncovered similar abuses inside Hallmark-Westland, another California dairy cow slaughter plant and USDA supplier. That video revealed violations of state and federal animal welfare requirements and resulted in the largest-ever meat recall in U.S. history.
The Investigation
The video, filmed by a COK investigator who worked at the facility in June and July 2012, documents egregious inhumane treatment, improper slaughter methods, and intentional cruelty forced upon these animals in the last moments of their lives:
- Downed cows, unable to walk to the kill floor, shot in the head two, three, even four times, and workers often walking away while the animal continues to struggle and kick.
- Some downed cows who were still alive after being shot in the head were then suffocated by workers who stood on their mouths and nostrils preventing the cows from breathing.
- Cows being tortured – repeatedly hit, jabbed, electrically shocked, and sprayed with hot water – in a narrow chute leading to the kill floor. One cow was electrically shocked over 40 times.
- Sick or injured cows repeatedly being shocked and workers pulling or lifting them by their tails in an attempt to force them to stand and walk.
- Improper stunning of animals prior to slaughter – many cows were thrashing, kicking, and clearly breathing after being shot in the head. Yet these animals are moved through the slaughter process onto a conveyor belt and then hoisted upside-down by one leg.
Sadly, such abuses are not isolated incidents. Numerous undercover investigations inside slaughterhouses throughout the U.S. reveal that animal cruelty is standard practice in the meat industry. More than 9 billion animals – birds, pigs, and cows – are raised and killed for food each year in the U.S. The most effective way each of us can help end these abuses is to simply leave animals off our plates. Start today: visit TryVeg.com.