NAMI Statement on Undercover Video at QPP Pork Plant
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Attribute Statement to
Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and
Animal Welfare Committee Liaison Janet
Riley
November 11,
2015
“Reviewing
edited videos provided by animal rights groups
is always challenging because we must rely on
short clips edited together with scripted
narration that is designed to convey a
particular point of view. What is omitted
may be as important as what is included, like
any actions that a plant took to correct a
problem.
With that in
mind, we have reviewed the three minute video
posted today by the animal rights group,
Compassion Over Killing (COK) that was shot at
Quality Pork Processors, which supplies Hormel.
While the narration clearly intends to
suggest that animals are conscious after
stunning, our review, conducted in consultation
with leading outside experts including Dr.
Temple Grandin, shows that these animals
appeared properly stunned and insensible to
pain, as required by federal
law.
We saw no
breathing, natural blinking or a righting
reflex that would suggest anything other than
an insensible animal. While the video’s
creator highlighted one pig on a rail and said
it was showing a “righting reflex,” the
video was distant and blurry and the pig’s
neck was obscured by a beam or piece of
equipment so it would seem impossible for
anyone to make a definitive determination based
upon the clip provided. Our Glass Walls
videos, narrated by Dr. Temple Grandin, explain
that animals can show uncoordinated movement
after stunning, but that does not mean the
animal is alert and
aware.
As the company
acknowledged, the undercover video showed some
unacceptable rough handling in the aggressive
use of the rattle paddle to drive animals and
some overcrowding. It should be
reassuring to note that the company identified
the inappropriate use of the paddle through its
own in-house video monitoring system weeks
before it was aware of the COK video and took
the appropriate steps to discipline and retrain
the employee long before this video became
public.
Although the
rough handling was unacceptable, the most
critical aspect of the slaughter process –
proper stunning – appeared to be working
well.
USDA inspectors
are present in all slaughter plants at all
times – including plants that operate under
the HACCP-Based Inspection Models Project or
HIMP -- and those inspectors can take actions
when they identify violations of food safety or
humane handling rules. It is disingenuous to
suggest that the HIMP inspection system in any
way contributed to this occurrence. In
addition, USDA officials identified no issues
during the time period when this undercover
video was shot and the company worked closely
with USDA last week when the agency conducted
an intensive in-plant review of the company's
robust animal welfare
programs.
We know from
experience that Hormel takes animal welfare
very seriously and the company is very engaged
in the industry’s training programs and
leadership of the Institute’s Animal Welfare
Committee. We are confident that Hormel
will do everything possible to ensure that any
needed improvements at the plant operated by
its supplier Quality Pork Processors are
implemented rapidly and
effectively.”
For
more information, visit
www.animalhandling.org

