Eastern Montana Meats: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2023 (USDA)
See the detail of the non-compliance of humane livestock handling that the USDA observed at the Eastern Montana Meats slaughterhouse establishment in 2023.
You can also see other establishments that were non-compliant in 2023.
313.15(a)(3),313.15(b)(2)(i)
HATS Categories VIII: Stunning Effectiveness On Wednesday 02/15/2023 at approximately 1620 hours while performing postmortem inspection, I, the CSI observed the following noncompliance. While I was at the final rail inspection, a large white bull was getting hoisted up in the air to be bled out, and I observed eye movement and a natural blink from the bull, but no vocalization was heard. I proceeded to the bleed pit while observing the animal further and noted the bull to be tracking me with its eyes. I started to perform the blink test, by touching the bull’s eye four times and observed the animal blink each time stimulus was applied to its cornea. I also observed rhythmic breathing, moisture from the nostrils while breathing and the tongue was still inside the mouth with its neck stiff. I immediately stopped the employee from further entering his knife into the bull’s throat, as the knife had split the hide and started bleeding. I verbally informed the kill floor supervisor of my findings. The Kill Floor Supervisor tried to render the bull unconscious utilizing the hand-held captive bolt (HHCB) device, with three stunning attempts in quick succession, but without success. I continued to observe the bull respond with blinking to the corneal stimuli and continue rhythmically breathing. The Establishment Owner retrieved the backup 38-caliber pistol and applied a stunning attempt to the bull rendering it fully unconscious. At that moment the bull did not respond to stimuli to the eye and rhythmic breathing ceased. I verbally informed the Establishment Owner that no more animals could be slaughtered, and I applied U.S. Rejected B-45632014 to the stun box on the slaughter floor. The Denver District Management Team was contacted through supervisory channels. This establishment does not operate under a Robust Systematic Approach to Humane Handling of Livestock. There have been no noncompliance records issued in the past 90 days for the same root cause.
