Twenty six federally-inspected beef slaughter plants and 15 federally-inspected pork slaughter plants were included in third-party audits by two major restaurant companies in 2009. Beef plants showed significant improvement over 2008. Pork plants continued to perform well with passing scores in all measured criteria. Consistency in auditing standards improved the clarity of data collected in plants in 2009.

Beef Summary

Overall, the beef plants performed much better than 2008 when eight plants received automatic audit failures. This demonstrates the ability of plants to improve handling in their facilities when it is viewed as a priority. Training and supervision are the most important factors in maintaining good livestock handling practices in the plant, during transportation and marketing, and on the farm.

Pork Summary

Discussion

However, electric prod scores from video audits tend to be higher over the first few days following camera installation as employees are not aware that someone is constantly watching their behavior. The use of video monitoring appears to improve the consistency of good animal handling because the employees know they are being watched. This technology is very useful for plant management to maintain confidence in the animal handling performance within their plant. The second author visited a beef plant which had third party video auditing in 2009. The cattle were moved very quietly and the handlers showed that they were well trained by not yelling, only filling the crowd pen half full and never using electric prods as their primary driving tools. The video monitoring systems are most effective when they are monitored by a third party auditing company over a secure internet connection. This ensures that the handling is monitored on a consistent basis. Camera systems set up for monitoring by personnel in the plant are less effective because managers are often busy with other tasks and tend to reduce the amount of time they spend viewing the monitor. Both authors strongly encourage the use of cameras monitored by third party auditors who are required to submit daily reports of the numerically scored core criteria specified in the American Meat Institute guidelines.

Plants that are not audited by customers may have more handling problems than plants that are audited. A visit to one of these plants revealed that they had excellent paperwork and training documents, but the animal handling practices were poor. Employees constantly yelled, screamed, and hit the animals. This emphasizes the importance of scoring and direct observation of handling and stunning practices. Good paperwork does not translate into good management of employee behavior.

2009 Undercover Videos and Other Observations

Producers began to walk the finishing pens to get pigs accustomed to people walking through them. Genetic lines of pigs with poor leg conformation and lameness problems were replaced. The use of the feed additive ractopamine was greatly reduced, but not eliminated.

^*Two plants failed audits for willful acts of abuse. An employee at one plant beat an animal with a handling aid. The other plant failed when an employee applied an electric prod to a sensitive area of the animal's body.

^* All 4 plants scored 99% on correct want placement. One plant applied an activated stunner want to a pig. All pigs were rendered unconscious prior to bleeding

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