Complaint filed with USDA and OSHA alleges violations of federal humane handling, food and worker safety laws
CURRENT STATUS: (Pending) Complaint filed with USDA and OSHA; awaiting response
December 30, 2024
Animal Partisan has filed an administrative complaint against a Pennsylvania halal slaughterhouse with both the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). The complaint stems from an undercover investigation conducted at the slaughterhouse and alleges violations of numerous federal laws intended to protect animals, consumers, and workers. Animal Partisan’s complaint asks the USDA to terminate the slaughterhouse’s status as a “custom exempt” establishment which allows it to operate without regular federal inspection. The complaint also asks the USDA to investigate the slaughterhouse’s sanitation and recordkeeping practices, and requests that OSHA investigate possible workplace safety infractions.
In 2024, an investigator visited Shepherd’s Touch Farm, an “Amish Halal Farm” northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that promotes goat, lamb, and beef for sale. Shepherd’s Touch advertises that customers can “handpick” a “whole animal” and then have the animal butchered “totally free”. Shepherd’s Touch even offers an option for “busy” customers to “hand pick” the animal they want slaughtered “over the phone (using FaceTime or WhatsApp).”
The investigation documented troubling conditions that may violate federal law. These include video of workers and customers cutting the throats of animals in a manner that may violate the “ritual slaughter” exemption in the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Graphic video of several of these incidents is below and depicts an apparent worker and customer cutting and sawing into the throats of fully conscious, struggling animals with multiple strokes of the blade, although federal law requires the cut to be “simultaneous and instantaneous.”
WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO BELOW
The investigation also identified concerns with Shepherd’s Touch’s sanitation practices. Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act, Shepherd’s Touch is required to maintain proper sanitation protocol to prevent the the adulteration of food products and protect consumers from foodborne illnesses. The investigation documented blood, feces, and trash (including bottles and latex gloves) on or near the killing floor, as well as a dumpster overflowing with trash.
Finally, the investigation disturbingly documented several children allowed to roam freely around the slaughtering floor. Children under the age of 18 walked or stood in close proximity to animals flailing violently as they were positioned for slaughter, sharp knives, and floors slicked with the blood of animals recently butchered. The complaint urges OSHA to investigate and determine whether these practices violate federal workplace safety regulations related to meatpacking establishments. These regulations prohibit minors from working on the “killing floor” and require personal protective equipment, none of which was apparent on the children wandering on and near the slaughtering area.
Shepherd’s Touch appears to be owned by the same individual who operates Kingdom Provisions, a separate slaughterhouse that was the target of a previous Animal Partisan criminal complaint alleging animal cruelty and illegal discharge of a firearm. Kingdom Provisions has been the subject of other legal troubles, including multiple civil lawsuits by local government officials over alleged violations of conservation easements and environmental protection laws. Residents living near Kingdom Provisions have regularly expressed outrage at the odors, noise, and insects emanating from the business. Environmental inspectors found carcasses and body parts of animals strewn about the property, in open containers and on the ground. The Bucks County Beacon, a local news source, conducted a comprehensive investigation into these issues and also explored the regulatory status of Shepherd’s Touch.
Shepherd’s Touch is no stranger to legal issues as itself. In 2022, 2023, and 2024, the USDA issued notices to the slaughterhouse over identified problems with recordkeeping, sanitation, marking and labeling of products. In fact, in February 2024, the USDA issued a Notice of Warning against Shepherd’s Touch for improperly selling 1,324 pounds of non-federally inspected goat meat to a market in Hamilton, New Jersey. The USDA seized and destroyed the product. Using the Freedom of Information Act, Animal Partisan obtained extensive records from the USDA describing the agency’s investigation into Shepherd’s Touch’s improper labeling, marking, and distribution of meat products. The images below depict improperly marked meat, including the heads and meat of goats and other animals.
Animal Partisan’s complaint targets a subset of Shepherd’s Touch’s pattern of troubling practices. It asks the USDA to investigate the slaughterhouse, revoke its ability to operate without regular federal inspection, and examine its sanitation practices, including procedures and recordkeeping. The complaint asks OSHA to review the investigative footage depicting children around the slaughterhouse killing floor and investigate whether any violations of federal workplace safety laws occurred.
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