Cruel Lunch

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Parents have long suspected that the school lunches their kids are eating are less than healthy, and often unappetizing to boot. A new report by the Human Society released this week reveals that your kid’s school lunch may also be cruel, and unsafe to eat.

In a video captured by an undercover Humane Society Worker at the Hallmark Meat Packing Company in Chino, California, longtime Hallmark workers are shown performing shocking acts of cruelty on cows too weak to stand. (The Humane Society is careful to point out on their website that, in case you had them confused, the Hallmark Meat Company is in no way affiliated with the greeting card company.)

In attempts to get the sick or weak cows to stand up, which will allow them to pass inspection and be slaughtered for meat, the workers are shown using electric shock prods, jabbing the cows with a forklift, poking them in the eyes, and using high-force water pressure up into the cows’ nostrils.

Animal agriculture expert and Colorado State University professor told reporters that the footage was "one of the worst animal abuse videos I have ever viewed."

A Humane Society member worked undercover for six weeks at the plant, and wore a hidden camera as he observed the horrors at the slaughterhouse.

Current laws prohibit the slaughter of "downed" cows, those too weak or ill to stand up. But if workers can get the cows to stand, they can pass inspection and be killed for meat.

Concerns about downed cattle increased after several studies showed a high correlation between "downer" cows and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), otherwise known as mad cow disease.

Dr. Michael Greger, the director of public health and animal agriculture at the Humane Society, told reporters, "By allowing ‘downers’ in our food supply, we are putting consumers at risk."

Hours after the video was released this week, the USDA suspended the distribution company’s contract to supply millions of pounds of beef to federal nutrition programs. The Westland Meat Company distributes meat processed by Hallmark to the nutrition program, which provides meat for the National School Lunch Program and to programs for the needy.

"This must serve as a five-alarm call to action for Congress and the U.S. Department of Agriculture," said Wayne Pacelle, the president of the Humane Society. "Our government simply must act quickly both to guarantee the most basic level of humane treatment for farm animals and to protect America's most vulnerable people—our children, needy families and the elderly—from the potentially dangerous food."

The president of both meat companies, Steve Mendell, said in a written statement that he was dismayed by the video and that the two workers shown have been fired. "We are shocked, saddened and sickened by what we have seen today. Operations have been immediately suspended until we can meet with all our employees and be assured these sorts of activities never again happen at our facility."

That’s not good enough, says Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill). Durbin called for the USDA and the Food Safety and Inspection Service to launch an investigation into the safety of the National School Lunch Program.

Said Durbin to reporters, "The treatment of animals in this video is appalling, but more than that, it raises significant concerns about the safety of the food being served to our nation’s children. The apparent slaughter of sick and weak animals not only appears to violate USDA regulations, but could be a danger to our nation's food supply."