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Groups Petition USDA To Enforce Humane Slaughter Act

Action Intended to Stop Ongoing Skinning, Dismembering, and Scalding of Conscious Animals

June 13, 2001

Washington, DC - The Humane Farming Association, the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, Public Citizen and 5 other groups representing the nation s 6700 meat inspectors and millions of American citizens delivered a petition today to US Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, calling on her to take immediate action to enforce the Humane Slaughter Act (HSA). The move follows revelations of ongoing widespread abuse of slaughter animals.

The HSA, passed by Congress in 1958 and amended in 1978, requires that all slaughter animals must be humanely handled and "stunned" prior to being hoisted up on the production line. It also requires that, once stunned, animals must remain unconscious throughout the butchering process. Evidence from slaughterhouses around the country shows that, due to increased production speeds and industry deregulation, slaughter animals are routinely dragged, skinned, dismembered, and scalded while alive and fully conscious. The groups are demanding that the USDA stop ignoring these cruel practices and start strictly enforcing HSA regulations.

"The USDA has never taken its humane slaughter mandate seriously," said Gail Eisnitz, Chief Investigator at the Humane Farming Association and author of Slaughterhouse. "But now USDA has abandoned this mandate altogether. At federally-inspected slaughterhouses throughout this country, animals remain conscious as they are immersed in scalding tanks or as workers remove their skin, legs, tails and other body parts," she said. "These practices are illegal, they re causing intense and needless suffering for these animals, and they must be stopped."

The petition highlights a long list of HSA violations. The most brutal of these violations is the common occurrence of inaccurate and ineffective stunning which does not render the animals unconscious yet still forces them to move down the line through the slaughter process causing cattle to be skinned and dismembered and hogs to be scalded while

they are still conscious. Petitioners also point to other violations such as dragging, beating, and excessive electric prodding, including abusive treatment of disabled animals. These illegal practices happen every day at USDA-inspected plants across the country.

"The intent of this law is clear. Any instance of a conscious animal being dragged, beaten, or excessively prodded or of an animal exhibiting signs of consciousness during the shackling, hoisting, bleeding, or butchering processes represents a violation of the law," said Patricia Forkan, Executive Vice President of the Humane Society of the United States.

In recent years, many of the country s small slaughterhouses have been replaced by large, high-speed facilities. Individual line workers are required to kill as many as 1,100 animals per hour one animal every 3 seconds or they risk being disciplined or fired. As a result, workers often resort to violent measures to keep the lines running, working on live animals who are struggling and kicking as they are being dismembered and skinned. The meat produced when animals are alive during the slaughter process due to high line speeds is more likely to become contaminated with fecal matter, filth and other adulterants, making it dangerous for consumers.

"These practices are not only incredibly cruel and inhumane to animals, but they also put consumers at risk. Meat produced on these high-speed lines has a much greater chance of becoming contaminated, possibly compromising its safety for consumers," said Wenonah Hauter, Director of the Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program, Public Citizen. "It s grilling season and the USDA has a responsibility to enforce each and every regulation that affects the safety of meat with their stamp on it."

According to the petition, the biggest obstacle to USDA enforcement of the HSA is the fact that most inspectors don t have access to the areas of the plants where animals are handled and slaughtered. This absence has been a problem since inspectors were given law enforcement authority in the late 1970 s, but in 1998, it became dramatically worse when USDA implemented Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP), a new food inspection program. HACCP transferred many USDA meat inspection duties to the meat industry itself. Under HACCP, USDA removed humane slaughter tasks from its list of inspection duties and allowed plant operators to build walls that block USDA inspectors views into the slaughter area.

"We are the people who are charged by Congress with enforcing the HSA, but most of our inspectors have little to no access to those areas of the plants where animals are being handled and slaughtered. The HSA is not a top priority. It s not a medium priority. It s not a priority at all," said Arthur Hughes, Council President, National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals. "And the USDA doesn t train us -- many of the new inspectors don t even know the HSA exists."

The petition outlines three major demands for the USDA:

• USDA inspectors must be stationed, on a fulltime basis, at those critical points where animals are handled and slaughtered.
  
• USDA inspectors must stop slaughter operations whenever they observe violations of humane handling or slaughter regulations.

• The USDA must adopt "whistleblower" regulations that protect slaughterhouse employees who report humane handling and slaughter violations.

"The current practices are brutal for animals, dangerous for workers and consumers, and illegal," said Eisnitz. "The USDA has a responsibility to enforce the Humane Slaughter Act and we are calling on Secretary Veneman to do so immediately."

Over the next two weeks, a number of these groups will begin a national advertising campaign. And these violations are also receiving attention on Capitol Hill. Last week, Senator Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL) announced a resolution to encourage the US Department of Agriculture to fully enforce the Humane Slaughter Act.

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