Quapaw Food Services Authority: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2021 (USDA)

313.2

At approximately 1630 hours, in the kill room, as I was cutting a head, a hog was being loaded in the chute. I had my back to the chute but heard a commotion. As I turned I observed the hog had gotten turned sideways and jammed against the back gate. The hog had not been stunned at this point. The hog had his head turned towards the back and dropped below his back and was backed against the gate. The employees could not get the gate open due to the position of the animal. Two employees attempted to get the hog turned one way or the other by opening the side gate. At this point the hog had leveraged and jammed against the employee and escaped, going underneath the cattle chute flooring. (This chute is hydraulic and sits above the floor approximately 20”.) Another employee was on the opposite side of the chute and tried to get it turned around to go out a back door back to the outside pen. The hog again went under the chute and came out near the front. I was positioned on the catwalk above the chute and could not see clearly the opposite side. (I was trying to stay out of the way and above the commotion.) At this point the employees tried to guide/block the hog from going further out into the kill room/processing area. One of the employees straddled the hogs withers to stop it. Two others were on either side and a fourth was in front trying to get it back towards the hog chute. At some point the hog slipped and the employees grabbed the hogs four legs and picked up/slid the hog back towards the chute. The employees were able to turn the hog on its side and push it into the chute where it righted itself into a recumbent position. I instructed the employees to go ahead and stun to cause no further anxiety/stress to the animal. Stunning and further processing went as planned. During processing I observed the carcass for any bruising, hematomas, or other physical trauma. I did not observe any physical trauma to the carcass or parts of the head or organs/viscera. While there was no physical harm to the animal, the incident did cause some distress and the animal to become over-excited. I informed the kill floor lead, Plant Manager Bobby Gibson and QA Manager, REDACTED of the noncompliance with 313.2(a) and that a NR would be issued. Review of the previous 90 days noncompliance records did not reveal any of a similar nature.

313.16(a)(3)

Category VIII-Stunning Effectiveness On Thursday, April 29, 2021 at approximately 0708 hours a Quapaw plant employee stunned the first longhorn beef with a 20 ga. shotgun blast to the poll area of the head. The animal went down in the knock box. The animal’s horns were wedged in the knock box and plant employees retrieved a rope to tie around the horns to remove the animal from the knock box. The animal was not struggling or moving but did exhibit rhythmic breathing at this time. Once the animal was freed from the knock box, the animal stood up and was aware of his surroundings. At approximately 0712 hours, the plant employee had reloaded the shotgun and positioned himself and administered a second shot which was effective in rendering the beef unconscious. I verbally informed the knocker and plant management I would tag the knock box and I applied US Reject Tag No. B1324176 to the knock box. I then communicated with Dallas District Office. The plant was issued a Notice of Suspension and provided Corrective Actions in response that were found to be acceptable on 4/29/21 by the District Office prior to the plant resuming slaughter operations. I removed the tag from the knock box at 1231 hours.