The California meat plant where allegations of cruelty to cattle and improper slaughter led to the nation's largest meat recall this month drew complaints about abusive treatment of animals going back at least 12 years, according to documents provided by two animal-rights groups.
One complaint, made Oct. 8, 1996, to a local humane society office near the Hallmark Meat slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif., alleged that cows that couldn't walk were being prodded "repeatedly in the face," and other cows were allowed to trample over them. The complaint was never substantiated, the Inland Valley Humane Society says, but it helped set off a series of changes at the plant, the records show.
The plant, now named Westland/Hallmark, halted operations on Feb. 1 after the Humane Society of the United States made public an undercover video shot last fall showing plant workers using forklifts to roll cows that couldn't walk and poking them with electric prods, allegedly to move them to the slaughter box.
Two workers face animal abuse charges in the case. On Feb. 17, the company recalled 143 million pounds of beef produced in the past two years after the U.S. Department of Agriculture found evidence that plant workers slaughtered cows that became unable to walk without a veterinarian inspecting them first.
"Downer" cattle have been generally prohibited from the U.S. food supply since 2004 because they carry a higher risk of mad cow disease, a fatal brain illness, and E. coli and salmonella contamination.
The plant "has a long, documented history of abusing downed cattle," said Michael Greger, director of public health for the Humane Society of the United States, in testimony before Congress this week.
But USDA spokeswoman Amanda Eamich says the plant has had a "substantial period of compliance" and "rather unsubstantial non-compliance" through the years. The USDA has inspectors inside the plant.
Donald Hallmark, 73, who owned the plant until 2002, said in a telephone interview that no animals were treated inhumanely when he was an owner. He also said changes were made when requested by regulators or humane society officials. "We did just what they wanted us to," he said. "We were never there to mistreat cows."
Record of problems
Documents from the Inland Valley Humane Society & S.P.C.A, based in Pomona, Calif., near the plant, allege repeated issues with treatment of downers.
"We have had numerous incidents with your facility in the past involving downer animals and loose animals creating public safety issues," Marsha Wyatt, a society supervisor, wrote in a 1996 letter to Hallmark. "There is not another slaughterhouse in this area that has created more problems for the police department and our agency, than yours." The letter was copied to the USDA. It was dated two days after the society received the prodding complaint, according to the notes of the society worker who took the call.
The humane society officer who went to investigate was ordered off the property, the letter says.
Still, Hallmark later promised changes. In early 1997, Donald Hallmark told the plant's USDA inspector that all downer cattle would be treated "humanly," according to the Feb. 26 letter he sent the inspector. "We at Hallmark Meat Packing believe we can make a difference in humane handling and the wholesomeness of our product," the letter said.
Later that year, Wyatt sent another letter to Hallmark and his son, thanking them for a meeting to address "downer problems" and included a list of conditions "to improve the welfare" of the animals.
Wyatt's letter added, "We all know that continued mishandling of downers is unethical and will only lead to further complaints from the public and possible interference from the media."
The Inland Valley Humane Society -- which isn't affiliated with the Humane Society that obtained the video and provided some documents for this story -- also provided USA TODAY with a log of what its officers observed at the plant.
After Hallmark's 1997 pledge, a humane society worker in May 1998 observed a cow with a hoof hanging by a tether of skin wandering around a parking lot for 15 minutes before the USDA inspector signed off to have it euthanized. That same month, a society officer reviewed the plant's downer logs and found that, on average, downers waited two to three hours to be checked by a USDA inspector.
"Sounds to me the plant has had a lot of problems, and the USDA was lax in its enforcement," says Lester Friedlander, a USDA inspector for 10 years who left the department in the mid-1990s. He says the timely euthanization of downers was largely left to the discretion of USDA veterinarians at plants, but the plant, and the incidents reported by the local humane society, should have been written up as violations of the Humane Slaughter Act of 1978.
A USDA warning
The USDA issued such a citation in 2005 -- when the plant was under its current ownership -- for infractions including excessive use of electric prods on cattle. "Too much electric prodding causing animals to get more excited while being driven towards (the kill) box," according to the USDA's citation.
The plant "promptly implemented" corrective measures, the USDA's Eamich said. A follow-up audit in May of 2007 noted "no excessive use of electric prods" and compliance with regulations, she added.
The USDA's investigation continues. But the video has sparked questions about the rigor of the USDA's inspection system. The Humane Society of the United States says the inspector checking for downers at the plant came at the same time each day, so workers knew when he wasn't around. The USDA says the inspector made random checks.
Cows that drop after passing a USDA pre-slaughter inspection may be slaughtered if checked by the USDA again and found to have suffered a non-food-safety injury, such as a broken leg. The plant didn't always alert the veterinarian for the second check, the USDA says.
Today, Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., chairman of an agriculture subcommittee, will hold a hearing into the recall and inspection program.
Westland/Hallmark plant manager Stan Mendell said in a telephone interview that the plant has laid off 200 workers, and he was unsure if it will reopen. He also said the plant "is a top-notch facility," and that management did not instruct the workers in the video to do what they did to get downed cows to slaughter.
What the workers in the video allegedly did to the cows was "terrible," Donald Hallmark said.
His successors poured a lot of money into the plant, he said, but "They will be broke when this is over."
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