Brother's Halal Meat Packing: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2025 (USDA)

313.2

HATS category IV- Handling during ante mortem On 3/5/2025 at approximately 10:00am, the food inspector informed the CSI a non-formula fed veal was running through the slaughter floor. The establishment failed to handle the veal with minimal excitement. The veal was corralled back to the chute and slaughtered humanely. The CSI then applied reject tag B-46071771 to the chute and informed establishment management. This is a non-compliance of 313.2(a).

313.2

HATS Category III; Water and Feed Availability. At approximately 0815, 02/13/25, while inspecting livestock pens, IPP REDACTED observed the lack of available water for the bovines being held for harvest. Two green troughs along the inner walls of the pen contained water, however the water remaining was below a wire rack that had openings too small for an adult bovine tongue to reach through. This is a non-compliance with 9 CFR 313.2(e); Animals shall have access to water in all holding pens. Slaughter floor manager REDACTED was immediately notified of the non-compliance. In response, Mr. REDACTED immediately filled water containers to come back into compliance with 9 CFR 313.2(e).

313.2

HATS Category III; Water and Feed Availability HATS Category IV; Handling During Ante Mortem Inspection At approximately 7:01 am on 12/23/2024, at Brother's Halal Meat Packing, Est. 901, kill floor supervisor REDACTED presented CSI REDACTED with a pen card to perform ante mortem inspection on 144 lambs. While performing my inspection, I noticed there were 50 lambs in Pen 1 where there was ample water availability. Upon further inspection of the remaining 94 lambs that were scattered between Pen 2 and Pen 3, there were the 2 blue water troughs and also a black 5 gallon pail that the establishment uses to fill the blue troughs when empty or frozen. The blue troughs and the black 5 gallon pail were frozen solid, therefore, the animals had no access to water, leading to a noncompliance with 9 CFR 313.2 (2) (e). REDACTED was immediately made aware of the noncompliance and was informed a noncompliance record would be issued.

313.2

HATS Category III; Water and Feed Availability At approximately 1000 hrs. the morning of December 18, 2024, Food Inspector REDACTED was in the barn performing ante-mortem on a group of goats for harvest. While doing so, he noticed that he did not think the group of 14 lambs in the right-most pens nor the cattle in the middle section of pens had access to water. Upon returning to the barn, Inspector REDACTED met me in the hall as I, CSI REDACTED, was returning from performing routine tasks in the Processing Room. He informed me of what he observed. I asked how long those animals had been in those pens to which he indicated that both groups of animals had been in those pens since this morning. I proceeded to the barn and found that the lambs indeed had no water. No troughs are set up for this row of pens thus the establishment uses buckets and barrels to provide water. No barrels or buckets were present. Two blue water troughs are mounted along the side of the pen where the cattle were being held. The water was frozen in both troughs on the side where the cattle were being held. Only approximately a quarter inch gap was not frozen along the edge between the ice and the trough. This gap was not sufficient for the animals to have access to water. As I was in the barn without a member of management, I immediately returned to the Harvest Floor and found supervisor REDACTED who accompanied me to the barn and observed our findings. He immediately retrieved a bucket and got water for all the animals. These findings are in violation of the 9 CFR 313.2(e) - Animals shall have access to water in all holding pens.

313.2

Category I: Inclement Weather and Category II: Water and Feed Availability At approximately 1:00 pm, the Kill Floor Manager presented 20 beef for ante-mortem inspection. Upon examination of the pens and the animals in the pens, I observed the following noncompliances. The front left pen had 1 calf inside it. The blue water container in this pen was full of frozen water and the calf would not be able to drink from this water container. The back left pen had 20 adult bovine animals. The blue water container for this pen was almost empty but the remaining water was frozen and the animals would not be able to drink this water. This is a violation of 9 CFR 313.2(e); the establishment failed to have available liquid water for the animals held in their holding pens. The Kill Floor Manager immediately broke the ice in the container of the front left pen and notified plant personnel to fill the water container in the back left pen.