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Minnesota Swift plant closed for breach of slaughter practices
(Greeley Tribune (CO) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 19--USDA inspectors temporarily shut down the kill floor at JBS-Swift & Co.'s Worthington, Minn., hog plant earlier this week after an alleged breach of humane slaughter practices, according to Meatingplace.com.
Swift officials could not be reached for comment.
Slaughter ceased for a total of 14 hours starting late Tuesday when a hog passed the kill line but did not die, according to media reports that quoted truckers waiting outside the plant.
"Supposedly a hog went through the kill line and didn't die," one trucker told the Worthington Daily Globe. "They shot it three times, and the USDA inspector said it was inhumane and shut them down. That is what a Swift employee told me."
Amanda Eamich, spokewoman for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, told Meatingplace.com, an industry trade publication, the problem was caused by insufficient stunning of at least one animal.
The truckers expressed their frustration at the unfortunate irony of the situation, in which they were forced to wait with hundreds of pigs in 90-degree heat and drive around a nearby lot just to give the live animals some air circulation. Swift employees also sprayed them with water to try to keep them cool.
Eamich explained that the 14-hour time period was necessary in order to ensure that the Swift plant, already under heightened FSIS scrutiny for similar violations that occurred earlier this year, was taking steps to sufficiently address the problem.
"It's incumbent on the facility to present a plan that's adequate in addressing all our concerns," Eamich said in the Meatingplace.com story.
"We do not allow a facility to resume operations unless we're confident that their corrective plan is adequately addressing our concerns," she said.
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Copyright (c) 2008, Greeley Tribune, Colo.
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