Animal welfare news and information.
A new site called Buying Poultry is planning to create a new app for consumers who want to purchase humanely raised poultry products. It will list every poultry producer and poultry certification organization in the country and will tell you how they treat their animals. The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act is the only federal … Read more
New Hampshire, Wyoming, and Nebraska are the latest states to introduce so-called Ag-Gag laws. Those laws make it illegal for activists and journalists to go undercover to expose animal abuse on factory farms. Last year, similar legislation passed in Missouri, Iowa, and Utah, joining North Dakota, Montana, and Kansas as the six states with such laws. … Read more
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has responded to the Tyson Foods announcement that it will launch a new animal welfare audit program for its supply chain. The audits are called the Tyson FarmCheck Program, and cover animal access to food and water, worker training, and proper human-animal interaction. The company is also going … Read more
One week after an undercover video prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to suspend operations at Central Valley Meat in Hanford, Calif., for what it described as “disturbing evidence of inhumane treatment of cattle,” the company says it is reopened for business. “Sunday afternoon, the USDA informed us that it has accepted our action plan … Read more
Three Republican legislators from California have written to the USDA, asking them to reopen Central Valley Meat Company, which was closed this week for egregious abuse of animals. The facility was closed after an undercover video shot by Compassion Over Killing showed downed animals being repeatedly shot with bolt guns and abused. The facility is … Read more
Records from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service show that the government bought more than 21 million pounds of beef from Central Valley Meat last year. The farm was shut down this week for inhumane treatment of cows. The beef was used in federal nutrition programs such as the National School Lunch Program, community food banks, … Read more
The USDA is suspending Central Valley Meat (CVM) in Hanford, California after the nonprofit group Compassion Over Killing recorded an undercover video showing workers mistreating animals. The facility is immediately suspended and can no longer slaughter or process food, and government inspectors have been withdrawn. Their mark of inspection has been suspended. The video is … Read more
The Missouri House of Representatives has passed H.B. 1860 on a vote of 108-32. The bill would make it a crime to record undercover pictures and videos on factory farms. Animal rights organizations have used these methods to expose animal cruelty and unsanitary conditions on farms and in slaughterhouses. Now it’s up to the Missouri … Read more
On April 30, 2012, Food Poisoning Bulletin told you about an “Ag-Gag” bill that passed the Iowa legislature and is going to the governor’s desk for signature. The bill criminalizes anyone who lies to get a job at a factory farm, with the intent to expose animal abuse or other wrongdoing in agribusiness. Since that … Read more