Meat Processing Career Center: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2024 (USDA)

313.15(a)(3)

HATS Category IX- Conscious Animals on the Rail On August 6, 2024, at approximately 0910 hours while performing the PHIS Livestock Humane Handling Review and Observation task, the following non-compliance was observed. The firm had a steer in the knock box head restraint. They applied two hits to the head with a pneumatic captive bolt gun. The first application caused the steer to drop to the floor of the knock box and the head in the head restraint to go nose up, indicating the animal was unconscious. The second application is typical standard practice for this facility and was applied as a security knock. When the firm released the steer from the head restraint, the animal’s head fell into the knock box, and as they opened the side door, the unconscious animal then rolled out onto the floor. Within seconds, the steer blinked and got up onto its feet. It then started to walk in a circle and walked halfway around in a circle when the establishment management had retrieved a handheld captive bolt and applied it to the poll region of the animal’s head. The animal immediately fell to the floor and was rendered insensible. These findings are non-compliant with 9 CFR 313.15(a)(3). Verbal regulatory control was taken over the knock box, and Plant Manager REDACTED was notified of these findings. Upon examination of the head after the hide had been removed, two penetrating wounds were observed on the forehead, one approximately 2 inches above the eye and to the left of midline, and the second a little to the right of the first wound, closer to midline. Using a knife sharpening steel, both stunning wounds were probed, and the second application was at an angle towards the ear. The Chicago District Office was contacted, and a Notice of Intended Enforcement (NOIE) was issued for the egregious event.

313.15(a)(1)

On 06/18/2024 at approximately 9:05 am while in the barn observing and verifying HATS Category VIII Stunning Effectiveness, IPP observed the following non-compliance on an ambulatory steer restrained at the neck in the knock box. I observed a harvest floor employee discharge the captive bolt gun on the steer’s forehead. The steer was still standing, tracking movement with its eyes, moving its head, and conscious. The employee immediately administered a corrective stun. After this corrective stun, the steer immediately went limp in the hind limbs the it’s eyes rolled to the back of its skull rendering the steer unconscious and indicating an effective stun. The establishment also administer a security stun after the second effective stun. IPP observed three separate holes in the skull on postmortem corresponding with the observations made above. The plant manager REDACTED was informed that the establishment would receive a non-compliance record. Due to the observations described above, the establishment was non-compliant with 9 CFR 313.15(a)(1). This document serves as a written notification that continued failure to meet regulatory requirements can lead to enforcement action as described in 9 CFR Part 500.4

313.2(f),313.30(a)(1),313.30(a)(3)

At approximately 12:10pm on Monday, June 3rd, 2024, I (REDACTED, REDACTED) was observing stunning effectiveness (HATS Category VIII) when the establishment was unable to render one of the animals insensible after the initial electrical stunning attempt. I was standing directly in front of the hog knock box, near the stunning operator, at the time. The establishment had a newly trained stunning operator working that day. On one market hog, the stunning operator applied the electrical stunning wand to the hog’s head behind the ears, and when the wand was activated, the hog stiffened, arched its back, extended its legs, and began vocalizing. The stunning operator removed the electrical wand from the animal, and the hog continued to vocalize and began trembling and tried to jump out of the knock box, but landed back in the box as another establishment individual tried to push it back in. That individual then took the electrical stunning wand and applied it to the hog’s head behind the ears and rendered the hog unconscious on the second stunning attempt. The wand was then applied to the chest for a cardiac stun. I discussed my observations with a Correctional Workshop Specialist (CWS) who was present at the time of the incident, and then went to discuss the situation with Ms. REDACTED, Consumer Safety Inspector (CSI). When CSI REDACTED and I returned to the stunning area, the CWS proposed switching out the stunning operators. The experienced stunning operator then returned to the knock box to stun the remainder of the hogs. I left the area to consult with my supervisory chain of command, and afterwards I informed both Mr. REDACTED, Plant Manager, and the CWS present that the incident was noncompliant and an NR would be issued to the establishment. The establishment failed to comply with the regulatory requirements prescribed in 9 CFR 313.2(f), 313.30(a)(1), and 313.30(a)(3).