UPDATE: Public records reveal magnitude of abuse inflicted on pigs slaughtered at Swift Pork plant
CURRENT STATUS: (Active) USDA launched investigation into pork plant and enacted corrective actions; Animal Partisan continues exploring other legal challenges
October 17, 2023
***GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOW***
Public records recently obtained by Animal Partisan from the USDA depict graphic evidence of abuse to pigs destined for slaughter at the Ottumwa, Iowa slaughterhouse operated by Swift Pork. As detailed below, Animal Partisan’s complaint to the USDA’s Office of the Inspector General led to an investigation of the plant by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) into rampant violations of federal animal welfare laws. The FSIS investigation led to a corrective action plan in which the agency met with the plant, reviewed handling protocols, and requested additional documentation when incidents of alleged abuse occurred, including photographs of bruising and other marks on pig carcasses. Animal Partisan has now obtained dozens of these photographs which depict severe bruising and other evidence of beatings and misuse of electric prods.
Although the corrective actions taken as a result of Animal Partisan’s complaint are a promising first step, the FSIS has still failed to take the the necessary action to stop the abuse of pigs destined for slaughter at the plant. The ongoing abuse at the Swift Pork plant warrants the FSIS to remove its inspectors and effectively suspend operations at the plant. Animal Partisan continues to explore legal actions and will update this matter as there are developments.
View all images HERE.
September 19, 2023
Public records obtained by Animal Partisan reveal that our October 2022 complaint to the USDA’s Office of Inspector General triggered an internal USDA investigation into a JBS-owned Swift Pork slaughterhouse along with corrective actions intended to address repeated abuse of pigs being slaughtered at the plant. These records validate that our efforts to use creative and novel legal pathways to challenge massive agriculture industries—in this case, using a separate federal audit agency to apply pressure to the USDA—can produce tangible results.
Animal Partisan’s previous complaint, filed with the Office of the Inspector General, a federal agency charged with investigating and auditing agency programs for “waste, fraud, and abuse”, alleged that the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) had repeatedly failed to enforce federal animal welfare laws at the Ottumwa, Iowa pork slaughterhouse. As stated in the original complaint, the FSIS refused to take meaningful actions against the slaughterhouse despite documenting over 3,000 pig carcasses showing signs of abuse with paddles, electric prods, and even unidentified objects over a six month period in 2021. The pork plant is one of the largest in the country, employing over 2,000 people and slaughtering over 20,000 pigs per day.
In recently obtained records, the Office of Inspector General ordered the USDA to investigate Animal Partisan’s allegations. In response, the FSIS Director of Internal Affairs reported to the Office of the Inspector General that Animal Partisan’s complaint alleging failure to enforce federal animal welfare laws at the slaughterhouse was “partially substantiated.” The records reveal that in response to Animal Partisan’s complaint, FSIS supervisors met several times with plant management to discuss and investigate the alleged abuse. Following these meetings, the FSIS enacted a corrective action plan to include:
Ongoing meetings with the plant to discuss specific instances of alleged abuse
Requiring the plant to take pictures of lesions on carcasses that could suggest abuse
Ensuring all violations of FSIS regulations regarding the treatment of animals at slaughter are documented in formal agency reports
Discussing enhanced monitoring procedures at the plant, including both video and written records
Consideration of withdrawal of the plant’s “robust humane handling” classification (plants with this designation are given special treatment when inhumane handling incidents occur and are less likely to be suspended than plants without this designation)
While the FSIS investigation and subsequent actions are positive developments, they are insufficient to address the egregious abuse documented at the Iowa pork plant. Animal Partisan continues to explore other legal avenues to challenge both the agency and the plant for the ongoing abuse plainly documented in government records.
View a copy of the report HERE.
October 20, 2022
Over the course of less than 6 months in 2021, USDA inspectors at the JBS-owned Swift Pork slaughterhouse in Ottumwa, Iowa documented over 3,000 pig carcasses showing signs of abuse with paddles, electric prods, and even unidentified objects. Inspectors frequently noted that pig carcasses often showed marks of abuse all about the body and many were hemorrhaging. On several occasions, inspectors with the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) witnessed employees beating pigs.
But instead of suspending operations at the plant, the USDA essentially did nothing but write reports. In fact, one FSIS inspector even evaluated humane handling practices at the plant after scores of prior incidents and concluded that Swift Pork’s “program meets the agency’s expectations for a robust systematic approach to humane handling and slaughter of livestock.”
At the Swift Pork plant in Ottumwa, Iowa, the USDA has abandoned its duty to enforce federal laws intended to protect animals at slaughter. On October 21, Animal Partisan filed a complaint with the Office of the Inspector General asking for an investigation into the USDA’s mismanagement and gross waste of funds at the plant and demanding a report to Congress on the investigation’s findings. The Office of the Inspector General is an independent entity dedicated to government oversight and tasked with protecting the integrity of federal agencies.
Our complaint cites FSIS records that depict a clear pattern of abuse at the plant from April to September of 2021 as depicted in the chart below.
In addition to identifying thousands of pig carcasses bearing signs of abuse, FSIS inspectors witnessed plant employees actively engaged in abuse and neglect, including:
Two employees abusing pigs with plastic bats and electric prods
A trainer beating a pig with a plastic bat.
Improper stunning of pigs
A pig with a rectal prolapse in a holding pen.
A truck driver beating a downed pig and then herding other animals over top of the downed animal
An employee beating a pig with a paddle who stopped when they noticed the inspector watching and then looked back 3 times to see if the inspector was still looking
An employee striking a pig 8 times and stopping when they noticed the inspector looking
FSIS has chosen to look the other way at the Swift Pork plant in Iowa. Instead of enforcing federal animal welfare laws as directed by Congress, the agency has chosen to disregard abuse and allow the plant to continue operating while thousands of pigs suffer. We are hopeful our complaint draws the Inspector General’s attention to this dereliction of duty.
View a copy of the complaint HERE.
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