bloodrayne
08-09-2004, 01:03 PM
PETA Sending Spies To Size Up Meat Plants
Somewhere out there in the nation’s slaughterhouses, a spy could be quietly at work.
The activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it will continue to send undercover agents into slaughterhouses and farms around the country in an effort to uncover animal cruelty.
Such a spy recently recorded what PETA says is a group of Pilgrim’s Pride Inc. employees killing dozens of chickens for fun — using methods not sanctioned by the company — at a plant in West Virginia. After PETA released the video, the company fired 11 people and the U.S. Department of Agriculture started an investigation at the plant. Such a scenario could befall other meat companies if employees are caught on tape at the wrong time. PETA won’t say how many spies it has placed around the country, or which companies it might be monitoring. But it is clear the group will be looking into the operations of the nation’s biggest meat producers. "It’s something that we’ll continue to do in the future," said Dan Shannon, a PETA spokesman.
Pittsburg, Texas-based Pilgrim’s Pride declined comment on their options for recourse against PETA spies. One of the meat industry’s best defenses against animal cruelty is a relatively new program called the Animal Welfare Audit Program, which sends auditors into meat facilities to make sure animals are treated humanely. The auditing program was started in 2001 by two trade groups representing the nation’s biggest meat retailers: the National Council of Chain Restaurants and the Food Marketing Institute, which represents grocery stores. "Consumers care a lot about how the animal is cared for before it’s processed," said Karen Brown, senior vice president for the Food Marketing Institute, based in Washington.
Brown said consumers expect grocery stores to ensure the welfare of the animals whose meat they sell. To do that, the Animal Welfare Audit Program sends inspectors to farms, slaughterhouses and other facilities, she said. The frequency of visits is determined independently for each facility.
The auditors inspect meat companies in a number of ways, Brown said. They check live animals to make sure they’re healthy and review records to make sure employees are trained in animal-welfare techniques, she said.
Participation in the program is voluntary, but many meat producers find themselves compelled to go along if they want the business of big customers like chain restaurants, said Bill Roenigk, vice president of the National Chicken Council trade group in Washington. "Most large companies have at least one, if not more than one, customers that are requiring some kind of auditing program," Roenigk said.
Meat companies have to pay for an audit, which usually costs a few hundred dollars, he said. "Most companies have told me it has been a rather manageable level of cost to come up to standard and pay for the auditing," Roenigk said.
Pilgrim’s is not participating in the Food Marketing Institute’s Animal Welfare Auditing Program, but follows a set of animal-welfare guidelines set out by the National Chicken Council.
The cost of not complying with animal-welfare guidelines can be considerable, considering the impact of PETA’s video from Pilgrim’s Pride’s Moorefield, W. Va., plant.
The grainy, black-and-white video that PETA released in July shows a row of men standing shoulder to shoulder in the "hang room" common to most chicken plants. Their job is to grab live chickens coming down a conveyor belt and hang them on a line that will carry them on to be slaughtered. In the procedure, chickens hanging on the line are stunned by electrical shock before a mechanical device cuts their throats.
The video shows the men throwing chickens against a wall to kill them. It also shows them jumping up and down on live chickens and kicking them like balls.
The images from the plant made national news upon release July 20. The 11 workers fired afterward included a foreman, a supervisor and eight hourly employees.
In a statement, company President O. B. Goolsby noted that Pilgrim’s Pride has a program to avoid animal abuse. He said that if PETA’s spy had reported the incident when it happened, supervisors would have taken immediate disciplinary action against employees involved.
Pilgrim’s Pride spokesman Ray Atkinson said the company is audited by outside parties.
The Food Marketing Institute’s Brown said the national auditing program helps ensure that company animal-welfare programs are followed.
The nation’s largest meat company, Springdale-based Tyson Foods Inc., has such a program. Spokesmen for the company wouldn’t describe it in depth, but Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson provided a pamphlet describing the program in broad terms.
Tyson trains employees to handle live birds and monitors them to make sure they follow the training. The company also is audited by outside parties, according to the pamphlet.
It is not clear how Tyson manages outside workers who handle the company’s live birds. Chicken farmers and crews who gather the birds for slaughter are independent contractors not directly employed by Tyson.
Roenigk, of the National Chicken Council, didn’t sound optimistic that any national auditing program could eliminate all acts of animal cruelty in the industry. But if another PETA video surfaces, the industry can point to auditing programs to assure customers that animal welfare is a priority. "We think that if we can continue to get that message to consumers, then we’ll be able to manage this issue and be able to grow as an industry," Roenigk said.
Somewhere out there in the nation’s slaughterhouses, a spy could be quietly at work.
The activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it will continue to send undercover agents into slaughterhouses and farms around the country in an effort to uncover animal cruelty.
Such a spy recently recorded what PETA says is a group of Pilgrim’s Pride Inc. employees killing dozens of chickens for fun — using methods not sanctioned by the company — at a plant in West Virginia. After PETA released the video, the company fired 11 people and the U.S. Department of Agriculture started an investigation at the plant. Such a scenario could befall other meat companies if employees are caught on tape at the wrong time. PETA won’t say how many spies it has placed around the country, or which companies it might be monitoring. But it is clear the group will be looking into the operations of the nation’s biggest meat producers. "It’s something that we’ll continue to do in the future," said Dan Shannon, a PETA spokesman.
Pittsburg, Texas-based Pilgrim’s Pride declined comment on their options for recourse against PETA spies. One of the meat industry’s best defenses against animal cruelty is a relatively new program called the Animal Welfare Audit Program, which sends auditors into meat facilities to make sure animals are treated humanely. The auditing program was started in 2001 by two trade groups representing the nation’s biggest meat retailers: the National Council of Chain Restaurants and the Food Marketing Institute, which represents grocery stores. "Consumers care a lot about how the animal is cared for before it’s processed," said Karen Brown, senior vice president for the Food Marketing Institute, based in Washington.
Brown said consumers expect grocery stores to ensure the welfare of the animals whose meat they sell. To do that, the Animal Welfare Audit Program sends inspectors to farms, slaughterhouses and other facilities, she said. The frequency of visits is determined independently for each facility.
The auditors inspect meat companies in a number of ways, Brown said. They check live animals to make sure they’re healthy and review records to make sure employees are trained in animal-welfare techniques, she said.
Participation in the program is voluntary, but many meat producers find themselves compelled to go along if they want the business of big customers like chain restaurants, said Bill Roenigk, vice president of the National Chicken Council trade group in Washington. "Most large companies have at least one, if not more than one, customers that are requiring some kind of auditing program," Roenigk said.
Meat companies have to pay for an audit, which usually costs a few hundred dollars, he said. "Most companies have told me it has been a rather manageable level of cost to come up to standard and pay for the auditing," Roenigk said.
Pilgrim’s is not participating in the Food Marketing Institute’s Animal Welfare Auditing Program, but follows a set of animal-welfare guidelines set out by the National Chicken Council.
The cost of not complying with animal-welfare guidelines can be considerable, considering the impact of PETA’s video from Pilgrim’s Pride’s Moorefield, W. Va., plant.
The grainy, black-and-white video that PETA released in July shows a row of men standing shoulder to shoulder in the "hang room" common to most chicken plants. Their job is to grab live chickens coming down a conveyor belt and hang them on a line that will carry them on to be slaughtered. In the procedure, chickens hanging on the line are stunned by electrical shock before a mechanical device cuts their throats.
The video shows the men throwing chickens against a wall to kill them. It also shows them jumping up and down on live chickens and kicking them like balls.
The images from the plant made national news upon release July 20. The 11 workers fired afterward included a foreman, a supervisor and eight hourly employees.
In a statement, company President O. B. Goolsby noted that Pilgrim’s Pride has a program to avoid animal abuse. He said that if PETA’s spy had reported the incident when it happened, supervisors would have taken immediate disciplinary action against employees involved.
Pilgrim’s Pride spokesman Ray Atkinson said the company is audited by outside parties.
The Food Marketing Institute’s Brown said the national auditing program helps ensure that company animal-welfare programs are followed.
The nation’s largest meat company, Springdale-based Tyson Foods Inc., has such a program. Spokesmen for the company wouldn’t describe it in depth, but Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson provided a pamphlet describing the program in broad terms.
Tyson trains employees to handle live birds and monitors them to make sure they follow the training. The company also is audited by outside parties, according to the pamphlet.
It is not clear how Tyson manages outside workers who handle the company’s live birds. Chicken farmers and crews who gather the birds for slaughter are independent contractors not directly employed by Tyson.
Roenigk, of the National Chicken Council, didn’t sound optimistic that any national auditing program could eliminate all acts of animal cruelty in the industry. But if another PETA video surfaces, the industry can point to auditing programs to assure customers that animal welfare is a priority. "We think that if we can continue to get that message to consumers, then we’ll be able to manage this issue and be able to grow as an industry," Roenigk said.