Sick Cattle Used to Feed School Children

WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2008— -- A hidden camera investigation by an animal rights group has uncovered disturbing treatment of ailing cows at a California slaughterhouse that provides meat for school lunches.

The video, obtained during what the Humane Society of the United States said was a six-week undercover investigation, shows a sickly cow being dragged by a chain before being poked, prodded, rolled and lifted with a forklift. Workers also are seen hosing the faces of cows in a manner that HSUS described as "torture, right out of a waterboarding manual."

An HSUS official said its investigator confirmed that at least some of the animals in the video were "spent dairy cows," allegedly sold for meat after they had grown too old and sick to produce milk, and that they were slaughtered for use in the human food supply.

HSUS says Westland Meat Company, which owns the slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif., is the No. 2 supplier of beef to a USDA program that "distributes the beef to needy families, the elderly, and also to schools, through the National School Lunch Program."

According to documents provided by HSUS, Westland was named a USDA "supplier of the year" for 2004-05. HSUS says the company "has delivered beef to schools in 36 states. More than 100,000 schools and child care facilities nationwide receive meat through the lunch program."

Such treatment of cows is generally considered abuse and is prohibited. But slaughtering such sick cattle — known as "downers" — also is banned to protect humans from contracting mad cow disease. The USDA considers its enforcement of the ban aggressive; HSUS says it's actually riddled with holes.

"Downed animals may be falling through the cracks as a result of poor oversight, anemic enforcement, and a loophole created by inconsistent agency regulations," the group says.

Both the USDA and the meat packer responded quickly to the allegations.

The president of Westland and of Hallmark Meat Packing Co., where the video was recorded, said today two employees were fired, and a supervisor was suspended "pending his explanation."