Westminster Meat Packing, Inc.: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2021 (USDA)

313.2

HATS Category III Water & Feed Availability June 25, 2021 1:22 pm On June 25, 2021 at approximately 1:22 pm, inspector REDACTED entered the barn at Westminster Meats to do antemortem, and to check the water availability. The water stations in pens 5 and 6 were empty. There were a mix of sheep, lambs, and goats in pen 6. There were approximately 5 cows in pen 5. I immediately informed the plant manager that there was not water in pens 5 and 6. The plant manager told me that they would give them water. I rechecked each of the watering stations and they all contained water. This is a noncompliance of CFR 313.2(e) which requires an establishment to have water available to livestock. This serves as a formal notification of a noncompliance

313.2

HATS Category III Water & Feed Availability June 23, 2021 1:35 pm On June 23, 2021 at approximately 1:35 pm, inspector REDACTED entered the barn at Westminster Meats to do antemortem, and to check the water availability. The water stations in pens 4 and 6 were empty. There were a mix of sheep, lambs, and goats in the pens. I immediately informed the plant manager that there was not water in pens 4 and 6. The plant manager told me that they would give them water. I rechecked each of the watering stations and they all contained water. This is a noncompliance of CFR 313.2(e) which requires an establishment to have water available to livestock. This serves as a formal notification of a noncompliance

313.2

HATS Category III Water & Feed Availability June 21, 2021 On June 21, 2021 at approximately 1:45 pm, CSI REDACTED entered the barn at Westminster Meats to perform an antemortem task and to check the water availability. None of the stations in any of the pens contained water. There were a mix of cows, sheep, lambs, and goats in all of the pens. I immediately informed the plant manager that there was no water in any of the pens. The plant manager told me that they would give them water. They soon notified me that they had water. I rechecked each of the watering stations and they all contained water. This is a noncompliance of CFR 313.2(e) which requires an establishment to have water available to livestock. This serves as a formal notification of a noncompliance

313.1,313.2

HATS CATEGORY VI Electric Prodding/Alternative Object Usage HATS CATEGORY VII Slips/Falls On June 14, 2021 at 1pm, while performing a Livestock Humane Handling task, I noted that the heavy calf in the kill box was laying down and facing away from the headgate. The calf vocalized intermittently when the plant employees used the electric prod on the hind end, but the calf did not rise. The CSI directed the plant crew to give the animal about 2-3 minutes rest to see if it would rise on its own. During that time, it did rise, but it was still facing the opposite direction and could not turn towards the kill box. The straight chute that feeds into the kill box was full of other animals in queue to be slaughtered. The animal that had been down in the kill chute came out of the kill box into the chute and was attempting to push past those animals. The plant manager, and 2 or 3 plant employees attempted to force the calf at the back of the group forward towards the kill box utilizing rattle paddles and the electric prod. One or two of the group slipped and fell to their knees as the others pushed against them in a frantic attempt to move away from the paddles and prods. I directed the Plant Manager and the crew to discontinue their prodding and paddling of the animal that could not move forward. The plant stated that they were not energizing the prod but using it to tap the animals. After multiple attempts to turn or move the animals forward, the Plant Manager opened up the gate where the section of the chute in the barn meets the chutes directly attached to the kill floor. While they were trying to back up the last calf, the plant crew were slapping with the paddle and using the prod to move the group forward or backward. Another of the calves again slipped and fell to their knees. I immediately directed them to discontinue prodding as the animal he was prodding was not physically able to move forward. When the plant employees were attempting to drive the animals back into the chute area, there were some slips and falls due to the floor not having sure footing, and one of the plant employees was hitting one of the calves directly in the face with a rattle paddle to try to pressure him to move backwards. I directed him to immediately discontinue using the paddle in that manner. When all the animals were facing the same way in the chute, the calf who was first in line refused to put its head in the head gate. The crew tried with reasonable use at this time of the prod/paddle, and when it still refused, the plant manager twisted the tail multiple times and the animal vocalized. At this time, the calf behind this calf was also in the kill box and stayed there while the first calf was ritually slaughtered, at which time it backed out of the box. When the dead calf in the box was removed, the next calf would not move into the kill chute without use of the prod and paddles. The crew moved him forward and locked the sides of his head in the head catch (not at the neck, but along the sides of his head), at which point he vocalized. The plant employee released the head catch and the animal stopped vocalizing. At this point, a tag was placed on the box (B42 101450) and I contacted the FLS and DVMS to discuss the situation. It was determined that while a noncompliance, it did not rise to the level of egregiousness. This is a violation of 9 CFR 313.2 which addresses driving livestock to the kill box with a minimum of excitement and discomfort to the animal. In addition, this is a violation of 313.1, which addresses the prevention of slips and falls in the establishment, including the chute area. The chute floor was coated in fecal material and the kill box had large amounts of blood/water on the floor, which also contributed to the slips and falls noted above. The SPHV discussed the violations with the Plant Manager at the time they occurred and advised him of the forthcoming noncompliance record.

313.2

HATS Category VI Electric Prod/Alternative Object Use. On April 16, 2021 at approximately 10am, Dr. REDACTED was observing a ritual slaughter at Westminster Meats (M46498) and was waiting for them to start positioning an animal and begin the cut. Dr. REDACTED witnessed the individual responsible for making the ritual cut putting his hands around the neck of a lamb and lifting the lamb up solely by the neck at least 3 to 4 times. He lifted the lamb completely off the floor, at least above the floor by 2 or 3 feet. The lamb was kicking its feet mildly. It was not obvious whether it was struggling to breathe and it did not vocalize. The entire episode lasted seconds and the lamb was returned to floor for positioning before Dr. REDACTED was able to intervene. After the employee returned the animal to the floor, Dr. REDACTED neither saw nor heard any evidence of ongoing injury or harm done to the animal. Dr. REDACTED informed the employee immediately that this was not acceptable and was a violation of USDA Humane Handling regulations. The employee was understanding and accepting of the direction and apologized for it and stated it would not happen again. Dr. REDACTED immediately informed Dr. REDACTED DVMS and Dr. REDACTED FLS about the incident. In addition, REDACTED was informed of the incident. He spoke with the employee, who confirmed that he recognized it was unacceptable behavior and agreed that it would not happen again. This is a violation of 9 CFR 313.2(a) which requires that the animals be moved without undue excitement or discomfort.