Atlas Meat Company: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2025 (USDA)

313.15(a)(1)

HATS Category VIII: Stunning Effectiveness At Approximately 0830 hours on Friday June 13th, 2025 while performing the HATS Verification task during slaughter operation, I the SPHV observed the following noncompliance: The establishment drove a small steer into the stun box. The steer was moving his head around while the employee was preparing to perform the stun. The stun operator attempted to stun the steer using a handheld captive bolt device (HHCB). The steer jerked his head when the employee performed the stun causing the HHCB to contact the left orbital region. The steer partially fell then regained his footing and remained standing with eyes tracking. There was no visible blood and no vocalization. The establishment employee immediately reloaded the handheld captive bolt device and applied a second stun. The second stun attempt was effective. The steer remained unconscious during the shackling, hoisting, and bleeding process. A regulatory control action was taken by tagging the stun box with U.S. Reject Tag: #B45005537 Establishment management was verbally notified of the forthcoming noncompliance record. Upon skinning of the head there were two penetrating holes, one near the left eye and the other in the frontal bone near crest of the skull. There have been no noncompliance records issued for the same root cause within the past 90 days. The Denver District Management Team was notified through supervisory channels. This establishment does not maintain a Robust Systematic Approach to the Humane Handling of Livestock. The U.S. Reject tag was removed from the stun box at approximately 0845 hours.