USDA Veterinarian Reveals Slaughterhouse Violations

03/04/2010 10:26AM

A supervisory veterinarian at the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is speaking out against unsafe and illegally-run slaughterhouses the Department of Agriculture failed to punish.

At a congressional hearing airing on Thursday, supervisory veterinarian Dean Wyatt will present cases where he and other inspectors who cited slaughterhouses for violations were overruled. Practices included butchering conscious livestock, and butchering livestock too weak or young to stand.

Wyatt claims to be threatened with transfers or a demotion and criticized the FSIS for looking the other way, ignoring broken laws leading to unsanitary products.

One slaughterhouse Wyatt reported is Bushway Packing Inc., in Grand Isle, VT which was later exposed by the HSUS in an undercover video report showing the illegal practices. Following the HSUS video Vilsack ordered a criminal investigation and the plant was shut down.

Click on title above to read more about the hearing;

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2010-03-03-food-safety_N.htm