[House Hearing, 111 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
CONTINUING PROBLEMS IN USDA'S ENFORCEMENT OF THE HUMANE METHODS OF
SLAUGHTER ACT
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON DOMESTIC POLICY
of the
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT
AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
MARCH 4, 2010
__________
Serial No. 111-136
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/
index.html
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COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York, Chairman
PAUL E. KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania DARRELL E. ISSA, California
CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland JOHN L. MICA, Florida
DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana
JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts JOHN J. DUNCAN, Jr., Tennessee
WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio
DIANE E. WATSON, California LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia
STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts PATRICK T. McHENRY, North Carolina
JIM COOPER, Tennessee BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia JIM JORDAN, Ohio
MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah
Columbia AARON SCHOCK, Illinois
PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri
DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois ANH ``JOSEPH'' CAO, Louisiana
CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, Maryland
HENRY CUELLAR, Texas
PAUL W. HODES, New Hampshire
CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut
PETER WELCH, Vermont
BILL FOSTER, Illinois
JACKIE SPEIER, California
STEVE DRIEHAUS, Ohio
JUDY CHU, California
Ron Stroman, Staff Director
Michael McCarthy, Deputy Staff Director
Carla Hultberg, Chief Clerk
Larry Brady, Minority Staff Director
Subcommittee on Domestic Policy
DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio, Chairman
ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland JIM JORDAN, Ohio
JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts MARK E. SOUDER, Indiana
DIANE E. WATSON, California DAN BURTON, Indiana
JIM COOPER, Tennessee MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio
PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
PETER WELCH, Vermont AARON SCHOCK, Illinois
BILL FOSTER, Illinois
MARCY KAPTUR, Ohio
Jaron R. Bourke, Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on March 4, 2010.................................... 1
Statement of:
Painter, Stanley, chairman, National Joint Council of Food
Inspection Locals, American Federation of Government
Employees; Bev Eggleston, owner, Ecofriendly Foods LLC; and
Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO, Humane Society of the
United States.............................................. 62
Eggleston, Bev........................................... 72
Pacelle, Wayne........................................... 78
Painter, Stanley......................................... 62
Shames, Lisa, Director, Natural Resources and the
Environment, Government Accountability Office; Jerold
Mande, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S.
Department of Agriculture; and Dean Wyatt, Food Safety and
Inspection Service Supervisory Public Health Veterinarian,
Williston, VT.............................................. 10
Mande, Jerold............................................ 21
Shames, Lisa............................................. 10
Wyatt, Dean.............................................. 38
Letters, statements, etc., submitted for the record by:
Eggleston, Bev, owner, Ecofriendly Foods LLC, prepared
statement of............................................... 75
Jordan, Hon. Jim, a Representative in Congress from the State
of Ohio, prepared statement of............................. 3
Kucinich, Hon. Dennis J., a Representative in Congress from
the State of Ohio, prepared statement of................... 6
Mande, Jerold, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, prepared statement of........... 24
Pacelle, Wayne, president and CEO, Humane Society of the
United States, prepared statement of....................... 81
Painter, Stanley, chairman, National Joint Council of Food
Inspection Locals, American Federation of Government
Employees, prepared statement of........................... 64
Shames, Lisa, Director, Natural Resources and the
Environment, Government Accountability Office, prepared
statement of............................................... 12
Wyatt, Dean, Food Safety and Inspection Service Supervisory
Public Health Veterinarian, Williston, VT, prepared
statement of............................................... 40
CONTINUING PROBLEMS IN USDA'S ENFORCEMENT OF THE HUMANE METHODS OF
SLAUGHTER ACT
----------
THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Domestic Policy,
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:47 p.m. in
room 2154, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Dennis J.
Kucinich (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Kucinich, Cummings, and Welch.
Staff present: Jaron R. Bourke, staff director; Jean Gosa,
clerk; Charisma Williams, staff assistant; Leneal Scott, IT
specialist, full committee; Jennifer Safavian, minority chief
counsel for oversight and investigations; Marvin Kaplan,
minority counsel; and Alex Cooper, minority professional staff
member.
Mr. Kucinich. The committee will come to order.
The Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Oversight and
Government Reform Committee now begins.
I want to thank the witnesses and the members of the
audience for their patience. The President had asked me to meet
with him on an urgent matter, and we were there for about an
hour. I was there for an hour, and then we had a series of
votes. That is the reason why we are starting so late. But I am
grateful for the presence of the witnesses, and I look forward
to your testimony.
Thanks to Mr. Cummings for being here.
Today's hearing is the second Domestic Policy Subcommittee
hearing on the topic of humane slaughter, the first of which
was held on April 17, 2008.
Today the subcommittee will examine the findings of a new
Government Accountability Office--that is the GAO--report on
the U.S. Department of Agriculture's enforcement of the Humane
Methods of Slaughter Act. I requested this report, along with
the support of Representative Issa, in 2008.
Now, without objection, I will have 5 minutes to make
opening statements. If the ranking minority member has the
opportunity to come, he will be granted the same, followed by
opening statements not to exceed 3 minutes by any other Member
who seeks recognition.
Without objection, Members and witnesses may have five
legislative days to submit a written statement or extraneous
materials for the record.
Mr. Jordan has an opening statement, which, without
objection, will be included in the record.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Jim Jordan follows:]
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Mr. Kucinich. Good afternoon.
About 2 years ago an undercover video exposing extreme
abuses of downed cattle at a slaughter plant in California
shocked the Nation. The video depicted scenes of employees at
the plant ramming cows with a forklift, poking at their eyes,
and repeatedly applying electrical shocks to make downed cattle
regain their footing and walk to the stun box. Those were
apparent violations of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.
While the USDA acted quickly, at the same time key
Department officials disclaimed the extent of the problem
depicted. For example, Doctor Kenneth Peterson, Assistant
Administrator for the Office of Field Operations, Food Safety
and Inspection Service, which is also known by its acronym
FSIS, said, ``FSIS believes this to be an isolated incident.''
Since that time, this subcommittee has examined the basis
for USDA's espoused confidence. What we found was USDA's belief
was not based on actual evidence. In fact, in November 2008 the
Inspector General found that FSIS had been in the slaughter
plant where those scenes of abuse were recorded and found no
problems, just months before the undercover video was shot.
The IG also found that, in a number of plants similar to
the one in California, severe gaps in oversight and enforcement
existed. For instance, FSIS inspectors ``allowed establishment
employees to control the required accountability process'' at 5
of 10 facilities audited. At one establishment, ``the inspector
simply re-signed blank pen cards and provided these to
establishment personnel for later use.''
At 4 of 10 establishments, inspectors did not inspect the
condition of individual animals; instead, ``animals moved past
the inspector in rows or groups of three to four animals deep,
effectively obscuring the observation of potential injuries and
abnormalities of each animal.''
At 2 of 10 establishments, ``suspect animals were not
segregated or slaughtered separately from healthy animals as
required.''
Then again last October undercover investigators of the
Humane Society caught employees at the Bushway Packing
Slaughter Plant in Vermont on tape committing extreme abuse of
veal calves. We are going to show some of that video. I have to
advise you that it is graphic.
[Videotape presentation.]
Mr. Kucinich. Scenes like the ones we have just witnessed
are violations of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Shortly
after this subcommittee's first hearing on this topic in 2008,
I made a request, along with Representative Issa, that GAO
conduct an investigation of USDA's oversight of the slaughter
industry and update its previous report published in 2004.
Today, GAO will publicly release its new findings.
What GAO has found is significant. Serious management
problems at FSIS persist and compromise both the enforcement of
the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and the ability of the
Department to change course. Key mechanisms of management
oversight of inspection staff are missing. Key guidance to
inspection staff make clear to them what constitutes a
violation. That is missing. Consistency in the application of
the law and assessing violations is missing. Substantial
differences exist among the reasons. Considerable disagreement
exists among the enforcement staff about what kinds of abuses
constitute violations and what enforcement actions need to be
taken in response.
The truth of the matter is we do not know how prevalent are
the abuses documented by the Humane Society. Neither does the
USDA because of the significant deficiencies in the management
of FSIS identified by the Government Accountability Office. But
there is new leadership at the troubled agency, and they are
talking about a new commitment to enforce the law.
My hope is that today's hearing will give us a clear
picture of what the new administration plans to do to reform
FSIS and improve the agency's track record in enforcing humane
animal handling laws.
I want to say that as I watched that video I am not going
to let it influence the conduct of this hearing, but I have to
tell you I just have serious questions about whether there is
such a thing as humane slaughter, about whether or not humane
slaughter is just an oxymoron. But be that at is may. We are
going to proceed with this hearing.
[The prepared statement of Hon. Dennis J. Kucinich
follows:]
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Mr. Kucinich. Mr. Cummings, do you have an opening
statement?
Mr. Cummings. Yes, I do. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank you very much for holding this vitally
important hearing to examine USDA's compliance with the humane
slaughter laws.
You know, Mr. Chairman, just the idea that we have the
subject matter that we do, whether a government agency, with
employees paid with the money, hard-earned money of taxpayers,
and then when I watch the USDA official watching that go on, it
really does concern me, and it should concern all of us. You
have to wonder whether we are paying people to be a part of the
problem, as opposed to a part of the solution.
The American people, as they should, expect that the meat
they purchase at their local grocery stores and butcher shops
is safe for consumption. Therefore, it came as a shock to the
American people when they learned of horrific practices by the
Hallmark-Westland Meat Packing Co. in California.
On January 30, 2008, video footage of the plant released by
the Humane Society of the United States revealed handling of
downed cattle and raised serious concerns about tainted meat
making its way into our food supply. Public outcry following
the incident led to swift action by this committee and by the
company, itself, including the voluntary recall of 143 million
pounds of beef dating back 2 years by Hallmark-Westland.
However, the problem did not stop with that incident. Most
recently on October 30, 2009, the Humane Society released
another video recorded at Bushway Packing, Inc., depicting
calves just days old being shocked with electric prods.
While the Federal Safety and Inspection Service has closed
this veal slaughter plant in Vermont, the shocking findings at
Bushway Packing raised the larger question about whether there
are more meat packing companies in violation of the Humane
Methods of Slaughter Act; therefore, at the request of this
committee the GAO re-investigated FSIS' enforcement records,
funding and staffing data, and strategic planning documents to
better regulate the meat packing industry.
GAO's original investigation in 2004 found that FSIS kept
incomplete inspection records which caused inconsistent
inspection and enforcement actions.
Today, as we examine the new findings of the GAO report, we
must uncover the reasons underlying the failures of this
program. The time is long overdue for us to strengthen
practices at the USDA and to oversee their processes to ensure
that the American people can have absolute confidence, Mr.
Chairman, in the safety of the food they purchase and they eat.
Mr. Chairman, our response today must be just as aggressive
as it was back in 2004. The safety of the American people
depends on our steadfast efforts to investigate the standards
of the meat packing industry and to enforce any improvements
that we find must be made.
I look forward to the testimony today and thank you again,
Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Kucinich. I always appreciate your participation and we
are grateful for your presence here today.
We are now going to go to testimony from the witnesses.
There are no more additional opening statements.
I want to introduce our first panel. Ms. Lisa Shames is the
Director of Natural Resources and the Environment at the
Government Accountability Office, where she oversees
evaluations at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food
and Drug Administration. She has been in public service since
1978. She directs work assessing oversight of food imports,
animal welfare, farm program payments, agricultural
conservation, and other policy areas. Ms. Shames managed the
designation of the Federal oversight of food safety on the
Government Accountability Office's high-risk list.
Mr. Jerold Mande is Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety
at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In that position, Mr.
Mande is responsible for the Food Safety and Inspection
Service, the USDA agency which protects public health through
food safety and defense. Prior to being appointed Deputy Under
Secretary, he was associate director for public policy at the
Yale Cancer Center at Yale University School of Medicine and
was also a lecturer in public health, helping train select
groups of physicians for careers in public policy.
Dr. Dean Wyatt serves as Food Safety and Inspection
Service's Supervisory Public Health Veterinarian for a six-
plant slaughterhouse and food processing operation in Vermont,
where he is responsible for supervising humane handling
procedures and enforcing FDA regulations under the ``in-plant
performance system.'' The doctor has previously served as a
supervisory public health veterinarian for FSIS in other parts
of the country and has been in private practice as a
veterinarian.
I want to thank each of the witnesses for appearing before
this subcommittee today.
It is the policy of our Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform to swear in all witnesses before they
testify.
[Witnesses sworn.]
Mr. Kucinich. Let the record reflect that each of the
witnesses has answered in the affirmative.
I ask that each witness give a brief summary of your
testimony. Keep the summary, if you would, under 5 minutes in
duration. Your complete written statement will be in the
record. I'm sure during the Q & A period we will have plenty of
opportunities to learn more.
Ms. Shames, you are the first witness on the panel. I ask
that you proceed. Thank you.
STATEMENTS OF LISA SHAMES, DIRECTOR, NATURAL RESOURCES AND THE
ENVIRONMENT, GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE; JEROLD MANDE,
DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY FOR FOOD SAFETY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE; AND DEAN WYATT, FOOD SAFETY AND INSPECTION SERVICE
SUPERVISORY PUBLIC HEALTH VETERINARIAN, WILLISTON, VT
STATEMENT OF LISA SHAMES
Ms. Shames. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the
subcommittee. I am pleased to be here today as part of your
ongoing oversight of humane handling issues. This afternoon I
will summarize the report we conducted at your request on
USDA's implementation of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act
[HMSA].
As detailed in our report being released today, we made the
following key findings: first, USDA's enforcement of humane
handling has been inconsistent; second, USDA faces difficulties
in planning for the resources necessary to enforce humane
handling, and; third, USDA does not have a comprehensive
strategy for its overall enforcement.
Let me first discuss USDA's inconsistent enforcement.
Inspectors are to exercise their professional discretion
when deciding what enforcement action to take in response to a
violation; however, our survey and analysis of records suggest
that inspectors are not consistently applying this discretion.
This is because inspectors have unclear guidance and inadequate
training.
Let me give you some examples of the inconsistent
enforcement. When witnessing a specific humane handling
violation, including excessive prodding or not rendering the
animal insensible to pain in a single blow, inspectors told us
they would take different enforcement actions, such as
submitting a noncompliance report or suspending plant
operations.
Our survey suggests inconsistent enforcement across plants.
For example, inspectors at large plants had more stringent
views than those at very small plants.
Also, records show inconsistent enforcement across
districts. For example, we found that 10 out of the 15
districts took all of the suspension actions. The other five
districts took none. Yet, these five districts oversee over
half of the livestock slaughtered nationwide.
Unclear guidance and inadequate training contribute to
USDA's inconsistent oversight. Inspectors from over half of the
plants surveyed reported that additional guidance and training
are needed. In particular, when asked about seven areas of
enforcement, such as animal sensibility, inspectors' responses
ranged from over 40 to nearly 60 percent that they need more
guidance and training. Others have called for more training,
including USDA's Inspector General, major industry
associations, and the Humane Society.
Positively, to help its humane handling performance, USDA
has begun to consider using a numerical scoring system
developed by Dr. Temple Grandin. This system seeks to reduce
the subjective nature of inspections and identify areas in need
of improvement. USDA's own Agricultural Marketing Service uses
this system to rate the performance of a slaughter plant. This
helps determine whether the plant can provide meat to the
National School Lunch Program.
USDA officials also told us that they are exploring the
potential use of video surveillance. Over half of the
inspectors at large plants told us that video would be useful.
Our second key finding is that USDA faces difficulties in
planning for the resources to enforce humane handling. For
example, in terms of staffing, USDA told us it plans to hire 24
inspectors to help its humane handling enforcement. While a
positive step, we found that this hiring is being done without
the benefit of an updated work force plan. The current 2007
plan does not address specific work force needs to address
HMSA.
GAO reiterates a recommendation we made in 2004, that USDA
periodically reassess whether its estimates accurately reflect
the resources needed to enforce humane handling.
Our third key finding is that, while USDA has various
planning documents for humane handling activities, they do not
clearly outline goals, resources, timeframes, or metrics, nor
do these plans provide a comprehensive strategy to guide humane
handling enforcement. Without these key planning elements, USDA
is not well positioned to demonstrate any progress in improving
its enforcement of HMSA to the public or to the Congress.
GAO recommends that USDA establish criteria for when
inspectors should suspend plant operations; identify some type
of objective tool, such as the numerical scoring system I just
described, to help evaluate plants' humane handling
performance; analyze the narrative from non-compliance reports;
and develop a comprehensive strategy to enforce HMSA.
In its formal response to our report, USDA did not indicate
whether it agreed or disagreed with our findings or
recommendations. USDA did state that it plans to use them in
improving its enforcement efforts.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my remarks. I would be happy
to respond to any questions that you or other members of the
subcommittee may have.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Shames follows:]
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Mr. Kucinich. Thank you very much for your testimony.
Mr. Mande, you may proceed.
STATEMENT OF JEROLD MANDE
Mr. Mande. Chairman Kucinich, Mr. Cummings, thank you for
inviting me to appear before you today.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service, FSIS, is deeply
committed to ensuring humane handling of livestock at
federally-inspected slaughter establishments. We welcome
today's hearing and the GAO report as steps that will help us
improve on this mission.
FSIS is the public health regulatory agency within the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. We enforce the Nation's food safety
laws and we enforce the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.
Slaughter is a critical stage in the life cycle of farm
animals and demands the highest level of care and compassion.
To achieve those levels, FSIS has a rigorous program to train
our inspection personnel in verifying humane handling at
slaughter establishments. All entry level inspectors receive
both classroom instruction and 1 to 2 weeks of field training
on humane handling.
In February 2009, in response to concerns raised by this
subcommittee and as part of our commitment to improve our
enforcement of humane slaughter, all FSIS personnel assigned to
antemortem inspection at livestock slaughter establishments
were required to complete refresher training on the agency's
humane handling policies. This training included determining
insensibility to pain, documenting noncompliance, and
suspending inspection for egregious situations.
FSIS is planning further humane handling training this
year.
In addition, each of FSIS' 15 district offices has a
district veterinary medical specialist who serves as the
district expert on humane handling issues and helps ensure
humane slaughter practices.
Whenever a violation of the humane slaughter requirements
is observed, USDA acts immediately to address it. Our
inspectors are told that they must take immediate action so an
animal does not continue to be harmed and that their first duty
is to ensure the harm does not continue. Inspectors can place a
U.S. retain rejected tag at the appropriate place to stop
slaughter until the violation is addressed by the establishment
and the inspector removes the tag. This is also known as a
regulatory control action.
The next step is for the inspector to determine whether the
violation is egregious. Egregious violations are any act or
condition that is cruel to an animal and warrants an immediate
suspension of inspection. A suspension effectively shuts down
all or part of a plant's operation. Examples of egregious
violations include excessive prodding or beating of animals,
dragging conscious animals, and causing unnecessary pain and
suffering to animals.
Humane handling violations are one of the few violations
where inspectors are able to suspend without prior
notification, a sign of how serious we believe these violations
are.
FSIS also has management controls and accountability
mechanisms for ensuring that its personnel are properly
enforcing the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. For example,
supervisory personnel at slaughter establishments conduct
performance reviews at least twice annually in inspectors'
performance, and these reviews address humane handling
inspection.
As requested by you, Mr. Chairman, I would like to discuss
the industry's compliance with the Humane Methods of Slaughter
Act.
Only 800, or less than 20 percent, of our federally
inspected establishments slaughter livestock and thus are
subject to the act. In calendar year 2009, FSIS in-plant
personnel spent the equivalent of 140 staff years, or 291,000
person hours, verifying humane handling activities, and
conducted more than 128,000 humane handling verification
procedures at livestock slaughter establishments. We found
humane handling violations in less than half of 1 percent of
these procedures.
In 2008, FSIS issued a total of 178 suspensions to
federally inspected establishments. Ninety-seven suspensions,
or more than half, were for humane handling violations.
Last year, 2009, FSIS issued a total of 164 suspensions to
federally inspected facilities. Eighty-seven suspensions, or,
again, more than half, were for humane handling violations.
As GAO finds in its report, both of these figures show a
significant increase in humane handling enforcement since the
events of Hallmark-Westland.
FSIS continually reviews industry compliance with Humane
Methods of Slaughter Act and takes appropriate measures to
prevent humane handling violations at establishments we
regulate. For example, with the help of Congress, we are in the
process of filling a newly created position at headquarters for
a humane handling enforcement coordinator. This person will
have line responsibility for overseeing our humane handling
program.
Also, we recently added 23 additional inspectors to boost
humane handling oversight and verification inspection
activities. These additional inspectors were placed at
establishments determined to be at higher risk of violating
humane handling regulations, such as cull and dairy cattle and
veal plants.
In addition, in December we added a new scoring
verification tool for our district veterinarians based on the
work of humane handling expert, Dr. Temple Grandin, that will
help us identify problems with establishments' humane handling
and slaughter systems.
In the near future FSIS intends to issue compliance
guidelines to industry for use of video or other electronic
monitoring recording equipment. All of these and other measures
are discussed at length in my written testimony.
However, despite our best efforts, there are areas where
FSIS must and will do more. With that in mind, I would like to
discuss GAO's review of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act
enforcement by FSIS. While we were not given a final copy of
the report to review before this hearing, we were able to
review a draft. On behalf of the agency, I would like to thank
GAO for its efforts to work with us during its investigation
and for giving us the opportunity to provide comments on the
draft report.
FSIS is committed to constantly improving upon its efforts
to ensure that establishments comply with humane handling laws
and regulations. Thus, the agency will consider carefully GAO's
findings and recommendations as we strive to improve and
evolve.
FSIS recognizes the need to improve our inspectors' ability
to identify trends in humane handling violations and will work
to identify practices that will achieve more consistent
enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. That being
said, FSIS does disagree with some items in the draft GAO
report, and these items could result in a misleading portrayal
of FSIS' enforcement of Humane Methods of Slaughter Act and are
described in my written testimony and in comments that we have
provided GAO.
Before I close, I would like to briefly comment on the
abuse that we saw here today in the videotape of veal calves at
Bushway Packing that were captured by the Humane Society last
October.
Secretary Vilsack expressed well the views of all of us at
FSIS when he said, ``The deplorable scenes recorded in the
video are unequivocally unacceptable,'' as he called on USDA's
Inspector General to conduct a criminal investigation of the
Bushway animal abuse, which remains underway. FSIS immediately
suspended operations at Bushway. FSIS also initiated
investigation into the alleged misconduct by agency personnel
and has to date terminated one employee.
If I can make one final point, Mr. Chairman, whistleblowers
play an honored role in our democracy. It takes great courage
to speak out about potential mismanagement or waste by
something as big and as powerful as the U.S. Government. We
take these charges very seriously, even if the actions occurred
under a previous administration. I promise we will investigate
any charges, we will identify steps we can take to improve
humane handling of livestock, and we will implement those
steps.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to appear
before you today. I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Mande follows:]
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Mr. Kucinich. Thank you, Mr. Mande.
Dr. Wyatt, you may proceed.
STATEMENT OF DEAN WYATT
Dr. Wyatt. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking
Member, distinguished members of the committee. Thank you for
having me here today.
I am speaking on behalf of myself, and I am not speaking on
behalf of the agency.
People ask me, Dean, why in the world would you risk
ruining your career by going to Washington and testifying
before Congress. I would tell them a favorite quote of mine
Abraham Lincoln once said: to sin by silence when one must
protest makes cowards of men. When we turn our back on the
helpless, when we fail to speak on behalf of the voiceless,
when we tolerate animal abuse and animal suffering, then the
moral compass of a just and compassionate society is gone.
I do feel like Don Quixote here a little bit because I have
been in the battle. I have been in the trenches. I have the
dents in my armor. But the dents in my armor have not come from
plant management; the dents in my armor have come from FSIS
management. They should have been my shield. They should have
been my protector.
I am a law enforcement officer. I am a public servant. I
have dedicated my life to the enforcement of the Humane
Slaughter Act and in food safety. And I like to think that I am
not here only speaking on behalf of myself, but I also like to
think that I am also speaking on behalf of hundreds of very
committed, dedicated, courageous food inspectors and
veterinarians who are frustrated, demoralized because they
don't receive the support that they need from their
supervisors.
If I had more time I would tell you about how I observed a
pig slipping and falling--several pigs, actually--slipping and
falling because they were being driven too fast, too hard on a
slippery surface. District office called me. They chewed me
out. They said they would not support my NR. I was going to be
demoted to a non-supervisory position for 2 weeks.
I would tell you about an angry animal handler who was
bludgeoning a pig over the head and nose several times with a
paddle simply because it was down and could not get up. It
couldn't get up. It couldn't get out the door. Myself and the
other veterinarian on duty were given a letter of reprimand for
trying to enforce the law.
I would tell you how the district office called me, told me
to drastically reduce the amount of time I spent on humane
handling enforcement because I was finding too many problems.
I called my supervisor 1 day because I had a humane
handling issue and I wanted to talk to him about it, and he
said that I needed to document that on an NR, which I did,
draft NR. As the draft NR reached the district office, then
they had a fit. They berated me on the phone for half an hour.
The whole management staff of the district office, they said
there was no way I could have seen what I actually did see. In
the end, they told me I either had to transfer, I would be
terminated. I was told to immediately leave the plant, to never
come back. I was supposed to report for duty the next day at a
graveyard shift at a poultry plant in Arkansas.
I cover calf slaughter operations. I covered Bushway's. On
three separate occasions I suspended inspection operations for
egregious humane handling events only to have that plant
reopen, operations continue.
You have to realize, these are baby calves. They are
typically 1 to 7 days old, and they are trucked for long
distances away, and they come injured. They are weak. They are
dehydrated. They haven't been fed in who knows how long. They
have been at a sale barn. They have been trucked maybe a day.
Who knows how long? And so they are weak and they are down and
they are injured and they can't get up.
I have seen an angry animal handler swear at these cows,
pick up a downed calf. He would throw it like a football off
the second tier of a trailer. I have seen them drag them by the
hind leg down an unloading ramp. I have seen them drag them
across holding pens.
Not only are they trucked long distances, but sometimes
they are held overnight, and it always broke my heart. I would
have to come to work the next day. Plant employees would be
carrying in the dead bodies of these baby calves because they
died of dehydration and starvation.
I had a district office official come to my plant and he
told the plant manager they had to reduce the size of the
stunning area because they were chasing the calves around with
the stunner and it is easy to mis-stun these calves. The plant
manager, the owner of Bushways, got very angry. He yelled at
the district veterinary medical specialist. He was doing the
review. He said no, I'm not going to do it. You can't make me
do it. I won't do it. DVMS told inspection personnel to
disregard that regulation. Nothing was done.
We do need an ombudsman's office where we can go that
people will actually listen and care. We need whistleblower
enhancement laws. We need more field inspectors. But most of
all, we need the support of upper level management so we can
fulfill our mission.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Wyatt follows:]
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Mr. Kucinich. Mr. Mande, is there a connection, in your
professional opinion, between humane handling and the safety of
the food which the people consume?
Mr. Mande. I think the humane handling statute, one of the
four that we carry out, along with our other food safety
statutes, plays an important part in helping us not only ensure
the humane treatment of animals, but ensuring food safety for
the following reason: all----
Mr. Kucinich. I'm not asking for a bureaucratic answer.
Would you eat meat where the calves were treated like that?
Would you consume those products?
Mr. Mande. I don't think calves should ever be treated like
that. It is against the law.
Mr. Kucinich. But would you consume meat that was treated
that way? Is the public health put in jeopardy if FSIS does not
adequately enforce the Humane Slaughter Act?
Mr. Mande. I think when companies violate the Humane
Slaughter Act it is a demonstration that they don't have
control of their processes, and if they don't have control of
the humane handling processes it raises into question how they
can have control of their food safety processes.
Mr. Kucinich. Would you say, Dr. Wyatt, that there are food
safety elements that are directly related to inhumane handling?
Dr. Wyatt. Yes, for sure.
Mr. Kucinich. Tell me.
Dr. Wyatt. I would agree with Mr. Mande. If they are not
following the humane handling practices, they are probably not
following their food safety program. We had some serious issues
in food safety at Bushway, let alone the humane handling thing.
We had some very serious food safety issues there.
Mr. Kucinich. I just think that people who are watching
this should have some understanding that it does matter how the
animals are handled; that if they are not handled correctly
there are health issues that become attendant; is that true?
Dr. Wyatt. Very true, Mr. Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Kucinich. Now, in the video clip we saw, Dr. Wyatt,
there is a scene where an FSIS inspector is speaking to Bushway
employees who are skinning a calf while it is still alive, and
he says, ``If Doc knew about this, he would shut you down.''
Dr. Wyatt, isn't it true that you are the doc they are talking
about?
Dr. Wyatt. Yes, Mr. Chairman. Yes.
Mr. Kucinich. And ultimately you did find out about such
abuses and your actions led to the suspension of operations at
Bushway; is that correct?
Dr. Wyatt. Yes.
Mr. Kucinich. And it wasn't until the Humane Society sent
an undercover investigator in to film the horrible abuses you
had tried to stop that upper management at USDA ordered a
criminal investigation and shut down the plant; is that
correct?
Dr. Wyatt. That is correct.
Mr. Kucinich. Now, Mr. Mande, in 2008 the Assistant
Administrator for the Office of Field Operations at FSIS wrote
to me to respond to the questions I had posed concerning FSIS'
treatment of Dr. Wyatt at his previous posting in Oklahoma. At
that time, Dr. Wyatt had chosen to become a whistleblower after
his concern about slaughterhouse practices there, practices
that were upheld by the previous administration. In that
response, FSIS made a number of disparaging comments about Dr.
Wyatt and disparaged his competency. It is very clear that the
unfounded comments were intended for no other reason than to
discredit him because he made the courageous decision to be a
whistleblower.
When I look at that slander, I look at the smear tactics, I
look at the bullying, it is very offensive.
As chairman of this investigative subcommittee, I am
committed to correcting the abuse of power by a high-ranking
official. I want everyone inside FSIS to understand that this
is not acceptable.
Mr. Mande, Dr. Wyatt should be recognized as a principled
man, an exemplar of the highest standards that FSIS should be
cultivating in all of its staff and supervisors.
Now, I understand that you didn't oversee the agency when
this abuse of power took place, but you do now. There is no
better way for you to signal to all of the inspection staff,
supervisors, and district management and to prove to Dr. Wyatt,
himself, that you are committed to leading FSIS in a new
direction, no better way to do that than if you would now take
this opportunity to publicly commit to embrace individuals like
Dr. Wyatt who, at great risk, report abuses by the industry and
even government. Will you do that? What will you do? What do
you think about what happened to Dr. Wyatt, how he was smeared?
Mr. Mande. Mr. Chairman, I would be delighted to commit to
making sure that when someone comes forward that witnesses
violations of the law, and at great personal risk to
themselves, sees abuses of power, and brings that forward at
their risk to us, that we get to the bottom of those. We would
not tolerate that type of behavior, and make sure that we do
everything in our camp, particularly in this case, as we saw
today, the need to make sure that we properly enforce the
Humane Methods of Slaughter Act is just paramount. And when
people come forward to help us do that, they should be
embraced, and that is what I commit to do in this
administration.
Mr. Kucinich. Was he smeared, Dr. Wyatt smeared, or was
that OK? I want to know. I want to know how you view this, as
someone who manages the program, because you are setting the
tone for other inspectors. Come on, now. Be direct. Was he
smeared?
Mr. Mande. Mr. Chairman, I met Mr. Wyatt first before this
hearing for the first time.
Mr. Kucinich. Are you familiar with the record of what was
said about him by an FSIS official?
Mr. Mande. Dr. Wyatt came in and met with some other high-
level people in the agency and brought these things to our
attention in terms of what he presented in his testimony, some
of the actions that he had witnessed and how he had done that,
and because of that, because of his status as a whistleblower
on those things, we have begun an investigation. We are going
to look into his charges and make sure that, if there is
information that we can use to improve how we do humane
slaughter, we are going to do that.
Mr. Kucinich. Why won't you address how he was disparaged?
Why won't you do that?
Mr. Mande. Again, I don't know. I met him today, and I
found his----
Mr. Kucinich. No, this is professional. This isn't whether
he's a nice guy or what. This is about his professional work.
Now, I'm not going to let you off here. Why won't you
address that? That concerns me. You are sending mixed signals
here, Mr. Mande.
Mr. Mande. In this administration, under this Secretary,
under this role that I have the opportunity to play here, we
would not tolerate inspectors who bring forward humane handling
complaints being in any way discouraged from that or mistreated
for that or retaliated against for that because of bringing
those charges. I find that unacceptable and we would not allow
that.
Mr. Kucinich. Mr. Cummings, you can proceed. I will come
back to you.
Mr. Cummings. How long have you been in the job, Mr. Mande?
Mr. Mande. Since July.
Mr. Cummings. Since July. And were you familiar with Dr.
Wyatt's case at all before today?
Mr. Mande. [No response.]
Mr. Cummings. The chairman just asked you a series of
questions, and I was just wondering were you familiar with the
subject matter that he just talked about before today.
Mr. Mande. Yes.
Mr. Cummings. And how did you come to learn about that?
Mr. Mande. After I saw the Humane Society videotape, I
first became aware of it, and I also became more aware of it
when Dr. Wyatt came and met with some other officials at the
Department and brought some of his concerns to us, and became
aware of his concerns and made sure that they are going to be
looked into thoroughly and that we get to the bottom of it and
take the correct steps.
Mr. Cummings. And when was that, that he came to you all?
Mr. Mande. It was last fall. I wasn't in that meeting so I
don't know the exact date, but I would guess----
Mr. Cummings. Last fall? And tell me what you have done so
far in response to what you learned.
Mr. Mande. Mr. Cummings, there are two events that need to
move forward together here. The first thing we learned was that
Bushway was behaving in a way that we just found completely
unacceptable. Secretary Vilsack asked our Inspector General to
begin a criminal investigation of them, and that criminal
investigation is ongoing and Dr. Wyatt is part of it.
So initially there was a period of time----
Mr. Cummings. That was referred to the Justice Department?
Mr. Mande. It is through our Inspector General.
Mr. Cummings. The Inspector General. All right.
Mr. Mande. OK?
Mr. Cummings. All right.
Mr. Mande. At the same time then, of course, Dr. Wyatt came
to us with charges about how he had been treated that we also
felt needed to be investigated right away. But as part of the
criminal investigation we weren't able to begin our separate
investigation until we reached a point in the criminal
investigation where the IG's office enabled us to begin work on
the charges that he raised. So that only happened in the last
month, and so we have begun that investigation as well and we
want to complete it as soon as possible.
And, as I was talking to Dr. Wyatt before that, I think his
experience, the examples he has brought forward, are extremely
important to us in trying to design the humane handling program
that we need.
Mr. Cummings. Yes. I take it that this administration, I
hope, you just said a few minutes ago has a policy of dealing
with things a little different than before?
Mr. Mande. Yes, sir.
Mr. Cummings. And can you tell us what the difference is,
generally?
Mr. Mande. I'm not the last administration, but I am seeing
the types of things that we wouldn't stand for.
Mr. Cummings. Yes.
Mr. Mande. First of all, in humane handling, we need to do
a better job.
Mr. Cummings. Yes.
Mr. Mande. I think the reports that GAO has provided us
will help us do that.
Mr. Cummings. Speaking of that, you know, in the GAO report
it finds that the inspectors in charge want more training on
whether incidents require enforcement action. And I am just
wondering, is the Department responsible for the training of
individuals in the various districts?
Mr. Mande. Yes. We train everyone who comes in.
Mr. Cummings. You gave some testimony that you sound like
you felt rather proud of the training that is taking place now.
Are you?
Mr. Mande. I went through it, myself, and I found it
enormously helpful, and I found it enabled me to understand
exactly the types of things that we should be making sure don't
happen. I was talking to Dr. Wyatt before. I would enormously
appreciate his experience in terms of being in the field and
having witnessed the training and how it ends up in terms of
the individual inspectors and the work they do, and if there
are ways we can improve that training I am open to that, as
well.
Mr. Cummings. Dr. Wyatt, did you have a comment? You look
like you want to say something.
Dr. Wyatt. No. I would just prefer to wait. I'm fine now.
Mr. Cummings. What training do FSIS inspectors receive to
ensure that they are prepared to enforce the Humane Methods of
Slaughter Act? What is the training?
Mr. Mande. Every inspector comes in and gets, as part of
their initial training, classroom training in the Humane
Methods of Slaughter Act, which goes over, for example, just
every--there are categories from unloading an animal off the
truck, as they are being moved toward slaughter, the stunning
that must take place to make them insensible before slaughter.
So it falls into sort of three broad areas in terms of the
environment that the animal is in, how the animal is treated in
that environment, and the stunning procedure, which is so
critical because to carry out the law the animal must be
insensible, not able to feel pain at the time of slaughter. So
they receive classroom training in all three of those areas.
They receive classroom training on the enforcement actions they
are to take, that whenever they witness a violation of the act
they need to write a noncompliance record, and whenever they
see an egregious violation, the cruel treatment of animals, for
example dragging an animal, what we witnessed in that
videotape, that they must in that situation suspend. They
receive that.
Then they go, after they finish their classroom training,
they have a week to 2-week in-field training, as well, to take
those lessons learned in the classroom and learn how to apply
them in the field.
And then we do refresher and updating training, as I
described we did last year and we will do again this year.
Mr. Cummings. One last question. You know, one of the
things that is sort of shocking to the conscience, Mr. Mande,
is what I said in my opening statement. When you have an
inspector standing there observing certain things that he is
supposed to be stopping, and he is almost a cheering squad for
wrongdoing. I mean, that, to me, then that would make me wonder
how deep does this go. Is there money being paid? In other
words, to allow those kinds of things to happen?
I know we have an investigation going on with a lot of
things, probably, but we want inspectors to be inspectors. We
want people to do their jobs, and if they don't want to do
their jobs then they shouldn't be there, because the problem is
when they fail to do their jobs they fail the American people.
I refuse to pay people to kill me. That makes no sense. Or not
to do their job. Is that getting through to Secretary Vilsack
and all the others?
Mr. Mande. I share your outrage myself. And, as I said in
my testimony, I think Secretary Vilsack said it for all of us
at USDA and FSIS when he said that the deplorable scenes
recorded in the video are unequivocally unacceptable. And as I
mentioned in my testimony, as well, that is part of not only
the criminal investigation we have done, that we have
terminated one employee.
Mr. Cummings. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Kucinich. Mr. Welch?
Mr. Welch. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Dr. Wyatt, thanks for your good work on this. I'm sorry
that I got here late, but what are the specific steps going
forward you think should be taken in order to try to avert this
happening again?
Dr. Wyatt. There are several things. I mentioned several of
them, I think, in my written testimony. I think it is extremely
critical that we get an ombudsman's office in place, not only
for humane handling but food safety, some place where the
inspectors can go that--if they have a weak supervisor that
always grants appeals, you can't go above your supervisor. You
are stuck. So we need that office where they have the freedom
to go and somebody will listen to them, care about what they
are telling them, and actually go to somebody in authority that
will also take care of that problem. That is critical.
We need whistleblower law enforcement and enhancement. I
think it is important. The inspectors, it depends. A lot of
small, medium, and large plants have a staffing shortage, and
the fact that the inspectors have a lot of work to do. They
have a lot of work to do. Most of their time is spent on
carcass inspection duties, so they don't have time to do the
humane slaughter enforcement. And when they do have the time,
as I explained in my testimony, they shut off the line, they go
do their humane slaughter. Well, plant managers know where they
are at. They are not going to do anything. So that is a
problem.
I think we need for these chronic plants, rather than keep
them in suspension and abeyance time after time after time,
take the courage to suspend. Take away their grant of
inspection. They shouldn't be operating. It takes courage to do
that, and we do need that.
We need fines in place. I think I mentioned that subpoena
specifically actions sometimes can cause more inhumane handling
of animals.
Mr. Welch. I noted your concern about suspension sometimes
resulting in more harm to the animals than if you allowed it to
continue under close supervision.
Mr. Mande, do you agree with that?
Mr. Mande. Well, the point that sometimes, in order to be
humane to the animals, it may make sense to allow a plant to
continue in operation, of course under close supervision,
rather than impose a suspension where the animals are then put
in further jeopardy in very inhumane conditions.
Mr. Welch. I do think that when it reaches a point where
there is an egregious action and there is a suspension, that
suspension is necessary until we can get the commitment from
the company to correct that. But I also agree with you, sir,
that there are situations. The animals are there, and the
length of that suspension could be resulting in further harm to
the animal while that suspension is ongoing.
Mr. Welch. Dr. Wyatt, I understand the Vermont Department
of Agriculture was vigilant on this and cooperative?
Dr. Wyatt. Yes. They were involved in the whole closure of
the plant, suspension of the plant.
Mr. Welch. Yes. Mr. Alby was good to work with on this.
Dr. Wyatt. Yes. Well, I didn't have any personal contact
with him, so yes, as far as I know from what I have been told,
yes.
Mr. Welch. OK. Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Thank you.
Mr. Kucinich. Ms. Shames, the Inspectors Union and consumer
groups have criticized FSIS for not filling vacancies in plants
and moving offline inspectors to fill gaps on the slaughter
processing lines. That shift has come at the expense of humane
slaughter and handling inspections. Are those criticisms
substantiated?
Ms. Shames. We found that FSIS is working without a current
work force plan to----
Mr. Kucinich. What does that mean?
Ms. Shames. It means that it really at this point has not
identified the work force level and skills that it needs to
ensure that it is performing the humane handling activities
that it should.
Mr. Kucinich. OK. Explain the implications of that for the
consuming public.
Ms. Shames. What this means and what we found in an earlier
report is that there are districts that are short-staffed, and
to FSIS----
Mr. Kucinich. What does that mean? What happens, though?
Ms. Shames. It means that food safety activities, humane
handling activities may not be getting the due attention that
they ought to. In fact, in our survey, when we asked what the
challenges were for following humane handling, an overwhelming
majority of the inspectors at the large plants said that they
are hard-pressed to backfill. When there are vacancies, when
people are taking their leave, it means that humane handling
oversight is shortchanged.
Mr. Kucinich. OK. So you found inconsistent enforcement
across the districts. You found that five districts overseeing
56 percent of all livestock slaughtered nationwide did not
suspend any plants during the study period. What does that
suggest about the adequacy of enforcement?
Ms. Shames. Well, it shows that there are inconsistencies.
For example, those five that did not conduct any suspensions
were in Des Moines and Chicago, and those happen to be the
first- and second-highest volume slaughter districts that FSIS
has.
Mr. Kucinich. So you saw the tape. You saw the violations
at Bushway. Was that just an isolated incident and it could
never happen anywhere else?
Ms. Shames. What we know from our survey is that there are
inconsistencies across the board. We see it within plants in
terms of the various responses that we got, in terms of the
enforcement actions that would be taken. We saw that across
districts. We saw that over time.
Mr. Kucinich. When there are inconsistencies, what happens?
Ms. Shames. Well, the inconsistency is deciding what action
ought to be taken when an inspector witnesses a humane
violation.
Mr. Kucinich. I mean, but at some point isn't this a health
issue?
Ms. Shames. Yes. The downer animals roll around in feces,
and that can encourage or bring about E. coli. We know from the
Westland-Hallmark incident that there was a recall of the beef.
Over time, while there have been fewer recalls of beef, the
quantities of the meat that has been recalled has actually
grown. So there is a connection there.
Mr. Kucinich. OK. Now, Mr. Mande, what does USDA inspected
mean, then? You know, should the public have confidence in that
if you have so many deficiencies that are being pointed out by
GAO? You know, there is a stamp, USDA inspected. What does that
mean?
Mr. Mande. It means something quite important for the
public. It is something they can have confidence in, and
something we are enormously grateful to the Congress in
providing it to us. I had the privilege before I came to FSIS
to do food safety at the Food and Drug Administration. What
that mark of inspection provides is it does not go on the food
until our inspector can assure the food is safe. You don't have
that in other food. Now, we did do----
Mr. Kucinich. What if you don't have enough inspectors?
What happens? What if you have deficiencies that GAO is
pointing out? What does USDA----
Mr. Mande. I am listening and very interested in----
Mr. Kucinich. What does it mean.
Mr. Mande. Sorry. I am very interested in their findings
and looking into that, but, again, you know, Congress has
provided us extraordinary opportunity and tools at FSIS in how
we do food safety. We are required to do inspection of every
animal livestock before it is slaughtered. We are required to
do carcass-by-carcass inspection, every animal. We are required
to be in every slaughter plant every day.
Those are great tools that Congress has provided us to do
that. If we don't----
Mr. Kucinich. Ms. Shames----
Mr. Mande [continuing]. Have enough inspectors to do it,
then the plant shuts down.
Mr. Kucinich. Does that mean there is a public health issue
here?
Mr. Mande. No. The plant shuts down, so I hear what she is
saying and----
Mr. Kucinich. How many plants have you shut down?
Mr. Mande. If we don't have someone who can----
Mr. Kucinich. No, no. Name the plants that you have shut
down. Just name a number of plants that you have shut down.
Give me a list.
Mr. Mande. We don't, and it is because we do have enough
inspectors.
Mr. Kucinich. Pardon?
Mr. Mande. If we don't have adequate inspectors, if they
are not there to be able to examine every animal antemortem, if
they are not there to be able to do carcass-by-carcass
inspection, that plant can't run, and we are very thankful to
the Congress that it has provided us both that law and the
resources each year to make sure that we can do that.
Mr. Kucinich. So you are saying you don't have inspectors
then they can't run, but you do have inspectors and they do
run?
Mr. Mande. Say that again, sir? Sorry.
Mr. Kucinich. That if you don't have inspectors, the plants
can't run.
Mr. Mande. That is right.
Mr. Kucinich. And so how many plants have been shut down?
Mr. Mande. For that reason, none that I am aware of.
Mr. Kucinich. OK. You are short of inspectors----
Mr. Mande. No, I didn't say that, sir.
Mr. Kucinich. You have enough inspectors. Then why do you
have deficiencies?
Mr. Mande. I am looking. I want to read the report
carefully, and because----
Mr. Kucinich. You haven't----
Mr. Mande. Well, we didn't see the final, but from the
draft I thought there was a lot of good information there that
will help us do a better job, and, you know, the President,
with the Food Safety Working Group that Secretary Vilsack, and
the instruction he gave me, when I came to the Department the
reason I came back to Government again to do this work is
because of their commitment to make sure that we provide safe
food and humane handled animals. And so if there are lessons to
be learned--but I do know, sir, that one thing that we have is,
having worked at FDA and others where they have to go about
food safety in a very different way, but the way we are able to
do it where Congress has, in the law, required that we have
inspectors in those plants continuously each day and has
provided us the resources to provide the inspectors is an
enormously powerful tool, and we have a commitment to the
public then to make sure that we are doing an outstanding job.
Mr. Kucinich. Ms. Shames, you have reviewed numerous
noncompliance reports, other FSIS data. You have interviewed
hundreds of inspectors. Based on your findings, do you think a
slaughter plant owner faces a reasonable chance of suffering
severe consequences for repeated abuses of animals and
violations of the Humane Slaughter Act?
Ms. Shames. That is actually a recommendation that we made
in 2004, that FSIS' guidance needs to be clearer in terms of
when an enforcement action should be taken. I think the Bushway
example illustrates what we mean by this. There were three
successive suspensions at Bushway before more drastic action
was taken. And this is what we are getting at when we are
saying that the guidance needs to be clearer in terms of when
an action should be taken.
Mr. Kucinich. Let me followup with that. Do you think FSIS
has in place the oversight and tracking capabilities necessary
to know whether or not the kind of violations we have seen at
Hallmark-Westland or at Bushway are isolated incidents?
Ms. Shames. Inspectors do keep track of the time that they
spend on humane handling activities. They do that in 15-minute
increments, and FSIS can report that. But what we are finding
is--and I think this is a rich source of information that FSIS
has not taken advantage of--is reading through the
noncompliance reports, themselves. This is a responsibility
that has been delegated down to the district level. We feel
that if it were looked at from a departmental level that the
anomalies, the inconsistencies that we just described could
help FSIS target the resources, target the training, take those
actions that would help better its performance in terms of
humane handling.
Mr. Kucinich. Thank you.
Mr. Welch.
Mr. Welch. I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Kucinich. Thank you.
I just have a few more questions here.
Dr. Wyatt, in your experience, what actions taken by your
supervisors in management at FSIS have been the most
counterproductive to the mission of enforcing the Humane
Slaughter Act?
Dr. Wyatt. The most counterproductive is they actually
encourage the plant to obstruct the inspector's work.
Mr. Kucinich. They encourage the plant to do what? Would
you----
Dr. Wyatt. They actually encourage, by not supporting the
inspector when he takes an enforcement action, they are
encouraging the establishment for that action and further
actions just to push the line in terms of egregious humane
handling or any humane handling event or food safety. In my
case, I was always shot down, so to speak, by my supervisors. I
would walk by a plant foreman; they would laugh at me. I would
go up to trim--I would give a rail inspector his break. Plant
foreman would come up and tell my trimmer: This guy doesn't
know anything. Don't trim what he tells you. Just trim what you
see. I mean, that is an example of the most egregious action a
supervisor can take, because when you don't support your
inspectors you are just as guilty of breaking the law as the
establishment, in my view.
Mr. Kucinich. With what you have gone through as a
whistleblower, what did that USDA inspected label come to mean
to you when you looked at it after your experience? Tell us
about that.
Dr. Wyatt. That is a very good question. The vast majority
of our inspectors are terrific. The inspector at Bushway----
Mr. Kucinich. They want to enforce the law.
Dr. Wyatt. They do. They work very hard. They work very
hard under extreme difficult situations, circumstances: angry
plant managers, the gamut. So they work very hard, so I am very
confident in that stamp of inspection. I disagree in the
comment about the staffing. When I was at Seaboard, we had to
pull our offline inspection people online all the time. We were
short-staffed all the time at Seaboard. So there is a staffing
problem.
Mr. Kucinich. OK. So what are the implications of short
staffing? Why should the public be concerned about this?
Dr. Wyatt. Because when you pull an inspector, an offline
inspector online to fill an online vacancy, that offline task
is not being done. Most tasks are being put into the computer,
not performed.
Mr. Kucinich. What are those tasks?
Dr. Wyatt. Humane handling, sanitation, operational
sanitation, check labeling, all kinds of things, HACCP, fecal
contamination checks, all kinds of tasks are not being done
because that inspector is filling another spot. The plant is
operating, as he said. Sure, they are operating, but they are
short staffed. They don't have the staff to perform all the
tasks that they are supposed to be doing.
Mr. Kucinich. So what does FSIS need to do at the upper
management level to do a better job? What do they need?
Dr. Wyatt. You know, in my 18 years of experience I have
never seen a district manager, deputy district manager, ever
visit a plant in the field. We need to have those district
managers, deputy district managers, out of the office visiting
the plant, talking to the inspectors. They don't even know the
names of most of their inspectors. They need to be out in the
field talking to people rather than sitting in the office. That
is what they need to do, in my view.
Mr. Kucinich. I want to thank the witnesses for being here
now. A number of things have been said. I have been watching
Mr. Mande try to get into the response here. Is there anything
you want to say to respond to anything that has been said?
Mr. Mande. No, thank you.
Mr. Kucinich. Given the seriousness of the FSIS' role in
assuring the safety of the food consumed by the American
people, this subcommittee will maintain an active role of
oversight of your division.
I want to thank Ms. Shames for the report, which I think
will provide some guidance.
I know you will get a chance to get into in depth, Mr.
Mande. I hope you will look at it carefully.
And Dr. Wyatt, the country really owes you a debt of
gratitude. You put your career on the line just to do the right
thing. It is not easy for whistleblowers to take on a
bureaucracy, a Federal establishment. You knew the risks, and
you took the risks. Because of you, there are going to be
established metrics to assure that the public's consumption of
certain types of food is going to be more rigorously inspected
and that there will be a little bit better assurance, a little
more public confidence in the process. So it is people like you
who are in a very proud tradition of individuals, good
Americans who came forward and did the right thing, even when
it was against their own personal interest. So this committee
is quite appreciative of your actions. I think that the
Department of Agriculture owes you a public apology. I want to
thank you for being here.
I want to thank the witnesses. This first panel is
dismissed, and we are now going to go immediately to the second
panel.
Dr. Wyatt. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Kucinich. As they are moving toward the table, I am
going to make some introductions so we can get right into this.
Mr. Stanley Painter is the chairman of the National Joint
Council of Food Inspection Local Unions of the American
Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO. Prior to this he
served for 24 years as a USDA inspector, working in both
poultry and red meat. He has held other positions in the Joint
Council of Food Inspection Local Unions, including serving as
the local president and vice president for Alabama and the
Southern Council president.
Mr. Bev Eggleston is the owner and founder of Ecofriendly
Foods LLC in Moneta, VA, a small slaughter operation serving
family farms in Virginia and the mid-Atlantic region. Mr.
Eggleston is an advocate for and a practitioner of small,
ethical family farming and raising pasture-fed animals. He
raises, processes, markets, and distributes grass-fed beef,
pork, lamb, poultry, and eggs at farmers' markets, home buying
clubs, and many restaurants in New York City, Washington, DC,
and elsewhere.
Mr. Wayne Pacelle is president and chief executive officer
of the Humane Society of the United States, which is the
Nation's largest animal protection organization, with 11
million members and constituents. He is our final witness. He
served the organization in a variety of positions since 1994,
and in his time as president and CEO he has overseen several
successful mergers of the Humane Society with other animal
protection organizations. In the last decade, Mr. Pacelle and
the Humane Society have worked for the passage of more than 500
new State laws and 25 Federal statutes to protect animals.
To the witnesses, it is the policy of our subcommittee and
the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to swear in
all witnesses before they testify.
[Witnesses sworn.]
Mr. Kucinich. Thank you very much. Let the record reflect
that each of the witnesses answered in the affirmative.
Mr. Painter, you are our first witness on the panel. As I
indicated on the other panel, keep your testimony under 5
minutes in length. Your entire written statement will be
included in the record of this hearing. I ask that you proceed
right now. Thank you.
STATEMENTS OF STANLEY PAINTER, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL JOINT COUNCIL
OF FOOD INSPECTION LOCALS, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES; BEV EGGLESTON, OWNER, ECOFRIENDLY FOODS LLC; AND
WAYNE PACELLE, PRESIDENT AND CEO, HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED
STATES
STATEMENT OF STANLEY PAINTER
Mr. Painter. Yes, sir. I would like to start out by saying
that I am here, although as an FSIS employee, I am here
representing my union and the food inspectors.
Chairman Kucinich, Ranking Member Jordan, and members of
the subcommittee, my name is Stan Painter and I am the chairman
of the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, which
is affiliated with American Federation of Government Employees.
I would like to thank you for inviting us to participate in
today's important hearing on the Humane Methods of Slaughter
Act.
The National Joint Council represents some 6,500 non-
supervisory meat, poultry, and egg products inspectors who work
for FSIS. We provide continuous inspection to some 6,300
domestic food establishments and 130 import establishments to
ensure the safety and wholesomeness of products covered by the
Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection
Act, and the Egg Products Inspection Act.
Humane Methods of Slaughter Act: our responsibilities also
include enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. As
you know, the HMSA requires that livestock, before being
slaughtered, are rendered insensible to pain by a single blow
or gunshot or electrical, chemical, or other means that is
rapid and effective. My union strongly supports enforcement of
this act, and we take our responsibilities under this act very
seriously.
There are problems enforcing the act. Unfortunately, these
problems with enforcing the act lie in what I have determined
to be three categories: FSIS does not make enforcement of the
act the priority; there are just not enough FSIS inspectors to
keep up with the volume of livestock going to slaughter in the
enforcement of the act and all of the other food should laws
and regulations; there is confusion as to what latitude FSIS
inspectors have to enforce the act.
Now, with regard to the first area, that is, No. 1, FSIS
does not make enforcement of the act a priority. A good example
of this is the basic training of the inspectors to receive and
carry out their responsibilities. This basic training just does
not make the enforcement of the act a priority. I can speak
from direct experience, since this past July I took a basic
food safety regulatory essentials FSRE training that the agency
offers to the inspectors. The instructor at the training spent
only a few minutes out of the 13 days explaining the Humane
Methods of Slaughter Act.
Another example, when the Westland-Hallmark scandal broke
in 2008, the agency promised Congress that FSIS inspectors
would receive additional training to enforce the provisions of
the act; however, all we received is a little online training
module that we could access through the internet to refresh our
knowledge about the responsibilities of the act, and there was
no followup by the agency management to emphasize the
importance in the enforcement of the act.
Second, there is just not enough inspectors to keep up with
the large volume of livestock going through slaughter to
enforce the act and all food safety laws and regulations. We
are still experiencing serious staffing shortages in various
parts of the country. I do not have access to the staffing
numbers for 2009, but through a Freedom of Information Act
request I have obtained the 2008 staffing numbers and have
attached them with my written testimony. You will note that
some FSIS regions are experiencing double digit vacancy rates,
especially the Albany district. The agency has worked in recent
years to close the vacancy gap, but they are experiencing
problems with, one, replacing the large number of retiring FSIS
inspectors, and, two, closing the chronic staffing shortages
which that region has suffered for years.
No. 3, third and finally, there is confusion as to what
latitude FSIS inspectors have to enforce the act. As a result
of congressional concerns about the act's enforcement, the
agency a few years ago began hiring district veterinary medical
specialists. They are responsible for acting as a resource to
inspectors on the act in each of the 15 districts.
Unfortunately, we rarely see the veterinary specialists
visiting the plant. They are rarely in the field. We are
hamstrung by our supervisors, who are either not qualified to
do their jobs, unwilling to let us do our jobs, or are not
committed to making animal welfare a priority, either in FSIS-
regulated facilities or in the private lives.
In closing, I want to thank you again for inviting us to
participate in this important hearing. I will be happy to
answer any of your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Painter follows:]
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Mr. Kucinich. Thank you.
Mr. Eggleston, you may proceed.
STATEMENT OF BEV EGGLESTON
Mr. Eggleston. Good afternoon, Chairman Kucinich, Ranking
Member Jordan, and members of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee.
I appreciate the opportunity to share with you my testimony in
this hearing regarding the enforcement of the Humane Slaughter
Act.
I am Bev Eggleston, founder and president of Ecofriendly
Foods, located in Moneta, VA. For 7 years our company has
operated a USDA-inspected, small-scale, multi-species certified
humane slaughter plant serving dozens of livestock producers,
and it is in this capacity that I appear before you and the
committee today.
In April 2008 I appeared before this subcommittee as the
only person doing what I do. The ability for my business to
survive was in question, but today I am here to tell you that
the business has not only survived, but it has thrived, despite
many economic challenges. With the support of this subcommittee
and the agriculture economies of many communities throughout
the United States, we could benefit from the expansion of a
safe, humane, and transparent model.
The trend in the meat packing industry is that big guys are
getting bigger and the small guys are disappearing. This trend
toward consolidation raises several important issues for this
oversight committee and should serve as a basis for the
congressional action going forward.
First, there are significant concerns in the safety of our
meat supply. The largest beef, pork, and poultry processors
operate at high volume and high speed to present many concerns.
When hundreds of animals per hour are being processed, it is
extremely challenging for inspectors to do their job and ensure
the safety of our Nation's food.
Furthermore, when the meat of thousands of cows are mixed
into single batches of ground beef, consumers are put at risk.
The industry's only answer is to cook everything until it is
well done, and not everybody will. This only puts a band-aid
over the real problem.
At Ecofriendly Foods' processing facility we only use one
cow to make a single batch of ground beef. By not mixing our
animals, we inherently minimize the potential for spreading any
bacteria and contamination. Plus, because our ground beef comes
from just one cow, and if there was a batch of contaminated
meat--which there never has been--it would be a small quantity
and thus small exposure to consumers, and it would be also
easily traceable.
The size and frequency and the public health impact of
numerous product recalls and food-borne illness outbreaks trace
the products from the Nation's largest packing operations, are
testimonial to these problems.
Second, animal welfare. Not only does the high volume and
speed of large processing plants affect Federal inspectors'
ability to ensure the safety of our Nation's food, but also
inhibits their ability to comply with the Humane Slaughter Act.
Furthermore, we believe that there are serious animal welfare
issues not being addressed in the Humane Slaughter Act.
American consumers are increasingly sensitive and insistent
upon higher standards of welfare for the Nation's food animals.
At Ecofriendly Foods, we respect the animals at all stages of
its life, not just the antemortem stage addressed in the Humane
Slaughter Act. Our animals are always treated humanely and are
never subjected to any painful or stressful treatment. This
attention to the welfare of our animals is reflected not just
on our farms, but also on our loading, hauling, and off-loading
techniques, all the way through our very thoughtful method of
harvesting and slaughtering.
Without the availability of regional and local packing
plants, too many animals must travel thousands of miles to be
processed, and the problem endemic to the large plants are thus
exacerbated.
At Ecofriendly Foods we purchase livestock from over 40
small family diversified farms. Few, if any, of them would be
able to continue in their livestock business if they did not
have access to our plant and the premium prices we offer.
There is a solution that not only mitigates food safety
problems inherent in our high-volume industrial meat packing
system, but that also addresses the humane handling challenges
mentioned. This solution is to widely replicate a model of
small, regional, USDA-inspected, multi-species slaughter
plants. What Ecofriendly has accomplished in the southwestern
part of Virginia has brought many benefits to our family farms
and the communities in which they live.
Here is what I believe Congress can do to address the
concerns related to the consolidation of meat packing systems.
First, there should be financial assistance in the form of low-
cost loans and grants for small-scale processing facilities
that serve local communities.
Second, in the interest of this wise allocation of the
potential funding, we believe Congress should immediately
authorize a rural economic impact study.
Third, we need Congress to direct USDA to provide technical
assistance to small-scale producers and processing facilities
and to educate the inspectors on the unique aspects to these
small-scale processing plants' needs.
Finally, the USDA has a one-size-fits-all to meat
processing regulations that does not make sense. We need
Congress to authorize an examination of current USDA
regulations as they apply to small-scale processing facilities
and to implement a new and distinct set of standards where
appropriate.
Ideally, there should be several, if not dozens, of these
small, local-operating slaughter facilities available to
farmers in every State and region. This would sustain the
current growth of small-scale livestock raising and encourage a
new generation of farmers to become producing members of our
agricultural sector. The economic benefits to rural America in
such investment would be substantial.
Our total gross sales during the implementation of our
model thus far is $3.1 million; $1.5 million has gone straight
into the pockets of our producers. This directly stimulates
their economies and jobs.
In summary, Ecofriendly Foods' growth of 326 percent since
2006 strengthens my belief that the impacts and replication of
such successful small-scale meat processing facilities across
our country could be huge. Impacts could include the decrease
of the cost of our Nation's health care system and the carbon
footprint, as well as increase our homeland security, our
environmental protection, our rural economic stimulus, and
humane treatment of animals. Growing American concerns of these
issues are clear indicators that consumers desire to know what
is on the end of their fork.
I am fully prepared to discuss further my experience in
these topics, and I kindly thank you for your time and
attention.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Eggleston follows:]
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Mr. Kucinich. Thank you, Mr. Eggleston.
Mr. Pacelle, you may proceed with your testimony.
STATEMENT OF WAYNE PACELLE
Mr. Pacelle. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for inviting
me to testify. I want to thank you for your commitment to
animal welfare. I want to thank you also for continuing on with
the examination of this important issue, this being the second
hearing that you as chairman have instructed proceed.
I will tell you that this is a very distressing issue for
me personally. We have been really trying to work on this issue
at the Humane Society of the United States from a variety of
perspectives. We want to see USDA and FSIS succeed, and we have
been working hard in Congress to see that the Agriculture
Appropriations Committee and, of course, the entire Congress
provide sufficient funding for enforcement.
We have been distressed at the job that has been done
through the years, and I do want to thank all of the witnesses
here today for their testimony. I have learned a lot from it.
And I do want to thank in particular Dr. Wyatt for stepping up,
and I concur with your view that he acted courageously in
stepping up and highlighting problems that, unfortunately, from
our vantage point appear to be chronic. These are not just bad
apples; they are systemic problems.
I will tell you, Mr. Chairman, that we are not a law
enforcement agency. We are lucky to have so many millions of
Americans support us. But we work on all animal issues and we
can't investigate every problem of animal cruelty and all of
the harmful human/animal interactions in this country, but we
have looked a few times at slaughter plants and we have looked
at intermediate transport points for animals like stockyards
and auctions and, Mr. Chairman, every time we have looked we
have found problems, not just the Hallmark-Westland plant where
the abuses were egregious and where FSIS had a full complement
of inspectors present, but also at Bushway. And in between we
looked at five auctions and stockyards in four different
States. At every turn we found problems. We found mishandling
of animals. We found downer animals being tormented. We found
widespread use of electric shock, misuse of heavy machinery
such as fork lifts. So many different problems that we have
come to see. We desperately want to see progress in these
areas.
We worked with Senator Byrd and other Members of Congress
to push for the district veterinary medical specialists to be
hired, and we saw that this was an opportunity to layer over
the inspectors and to really put more attention on this
problem. But we have seen in too many cases it has been more
bureaucracy and that their attention has been diverted to other
matters, not to humane handling issues, but to some of their
other important responsibilities.
But we believe that humane handling should be core to what
the agency does. It shouldn't be an adjunct. It shouldn't be an
occasional attention grabber. It should be part of the daily
responsibility.
We are very distressed in the past about high-level
officials suppressing proper enforcement, because that is
essentially what Dr. Wyatt testified about today is that his
inspections--he's the thin blue line, if you will, at the
plants, and when he tried to enforce the law that information
was suppressed and he was penalized.
I will tell you, Mr. Chairman, that I have had the pleasure
of speaking with a number of senior USDA officials in this new
administration. I am encouraged by Secretary Vilsack's
commitment to these issues. I was pleased to hear about Mr.
Mande's comments, and we look forward to working with them. I
want to thank them for immediately shutting down the plant once
we provided the investigative footage.
But now we have an opportunity for real reform, and just
shutting down the plant is insufficient. We have a moment now
to really address these issues in a fundamental way.
I am pleased to hear about the humane handling enforcement
coordinator that Mr. Mande mentioned. That is important.
I want to associate the Humane Society with Dr. Wyatt's
comment about the importance of an ombudsman to provide
inspectors with an avenue to take their concerns and grievances
and to help ensure that they are able to carry out their
responsibilities for both food safety and humane enforcement.
Mr. Chairman, I really do believe that we need a mobile
review team. Humane Society undercover investigators served
that function by going undercover and getting behind the scenes
and figuring out what's going on and documenting. USDA and FSIS
should have its own mobile investigations unit. They should be
transparent at times, but even undercover, as necessary, to
sniff out problems that exist.
Of course, inspectors who aren't doing their jobs should be
fired. They should not be allowed to continue in this important
role, because we are not just talking about billions of
animals, we are talking about hundreds of millions of American
consumers. What is greater, in terms of the animal welfare
suffering quotients and the human suffering quotient, than our
food supply? It is a staggering responsibility, and there
should be a zero tolerance policy for failures in terms of the
performance of the inspectors and the agency.
Mr. Chairman, I am going to wrap up, but I just want to
mention a few things briefly in terms of other policy reforms,
not just enforcement but policy reforms.
One is there is still a loophole in the Federal downer law.
These calves are legally held in some ways for these purposes,
so there is a loophole that allows downer calves to be set
aside and reevaluated for----
Mr. Kucinich. What do you mean by downer?
Mr. Pacelle. Downer animals are non-ambulatory livestock.
They are animals who are unable to stand and to walk, and in
March the Obama administration closed the loophole on the
downer issues and some of that came to light through our
Hallmark-Westland investigation. But there is still a problem
in enforcement, because these young male calves that are
literally born just a few days before are sent to these plants,
and if they are under a certain size they can be set aside and
reevaluated for possible slaughter. We think that is a problem.
We have petitioned the USDA. We want the USDA to close that
additional loophole.
We also want to end the transport of baby calves to
slaughter. As Dr. Wyatt said, these animals are just coming
from the womb. They are not getting fed. They are babies. They
are weak. And they are in long-distance transport, and then
they are being occasionally, as we saw, mishandled at these
facilities.
I think, Mr. Chairman, finally, the biggest problem is that
95 percent of all animals slaughtered for food in the United
States are not covered by the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.
All poultry are entirely excluded. Nine billion animals raised
for food in the United States are not covered under the Humane
Methods of Slaughter Act because they have been carved out. It
is time for the Congress to close that loophole. We do believe
that the Agriculture Secretary can designate poultry an
amenable species and include them under the protections, but
the Congress can act, as well. Those are critical reforms.
We thank you for the opportunity of testifying here today
and thank you for your commitment to this issue.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Pacelle follows:]
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Mr. Kucinich. Thank you very much, Mr. Pacelle.
Mr. Painter, in your testimony you said that in 2009 you
oversaw the slaughter or we oversaw the slaughter and
processing of 112 million domestic head of livestock and 6.7
billion domestic poultry animals. Are there enough inspectors
to be able to ensure that the food which the American people
are consuming is adequately inspected, and so fit for
consumption, so they can have confidence that what they eat
they are going to be safe?
Mr. Painter. No, sir. Not only is there not enough
inspectors, there is not the ability to do the job.
We actually have a provision in our contract, our national
contract. Article 5, section 15, states that it is conflicting
orders. We actually had to put that provision in the contract
because we were getting so many different orders in the field.
You know, you are to follow the last instructions given. So it
changes from day to day.
Mr. Kucinich. In your prepared testimony, you said that
enforcement of the Humane Slaughter Act is not a priority of
the agency to enforce. What are the implications of that, in
your mind as someone who has worked as an inspector? What
happens if the Humane Slaughter act is not enforced?
Mr. Painter. You know, from what we are seeing in the
field, it is just not a big issue. And it was said earlier----
Mr. Kucinich. It is not what?
Mr. Painter. It is not a big issue. I mean, it is a routine
thing. Let's go out. Let's do antemortem and let's run back in
the plant. That is----
Mr. Kucinich. You are saying that management hasn't made it
a big deal?
Mr. Painter. Management has not made it----
Mr. Kucinich. Do you think it is a serious thing?
Mr. Painter. I do. I do.
Mr. Kucinich. Why?
Mr. Painter. A number of things have brought out. Other
than the cruelty to the animals, it certainly has a food safety
aspect, as well, which has been brought out before, you know.
Our concerns are----
Mr. Kucinich. If you knew for sure that beef or poultry
that was presented to you for consumption was not properly
inspected and the Humane Slaughter Act was not enforced, would
you have any misgivings about consuming such beef or poultry?
Mr. Painter. Certainly.
Mr. Kucinich. Why?
Mr. Painter. Well, No. 1, there is an ethical portion that
I think that we are missing as agency employees. We should have
a high ethical standard. I am not saying that the inspectors
don't have a high ethical standard; they do. But we get so much
going on from our management. And let me give an example of
what is going on.
Mr. Kucinich. What about the second thing? Tell me about
the health issues.
Mr. Painter. Well, you know, as mentioned earlier, you have
downer animals that are laying in their own feces, and in the
process you can get E. coli contamination from animals that
have been lying in their own feces. An animal that----
Mr. Kucinich. Mr. Mande, who was up here earlier--is Mr.
Mande still here? He seemed to imply that this is just an
isolated case. Even the way the Department handled it, they
condemned it quickly, as they should. Is it an isolated case as
far as you are concerned?
Mr. Painter. I will take a quote from a former Governor of
Alabama: it is not the first time it happened; it is just the
first time they got caught. So I have no reason to believe it
is an isolated case because, as mentioned earlier, part of the
time it is a staffing issue. Mr. Mande mentioned that the
slaughter lines, according to the Meat Inspection Act, they are
supposed to be manned. You are supposed to have bird-by-bird
and carcass-by-carcass inspection. But when you meet that, part
of the time you don't meet the guidelines for other provisions.
Mr. Kucinich. I noted with interest the figures that you
produced for this committee about the in-plant inspection
vacancy rate; in other words, how many inspectors you are
short, right?
Mr. Painter. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kucinich. Am I correct in saying that Des Moines and
Chicago are two of the largest processing areas?
Mr. Painter. They are.
Mr. Kucinich. And what percentage of the livestock that is
being processed goes through those areas?
Mr. Painter. I am going to estimate probably about a half
that go through the Nation.
Mr. Kucinich. So if you have in Des Moines from February
2008 to September 2008, if you have consistent double digit
deficiencies, what does that mean?
Mr. Painter. That means the slaughter line is going to be
staffed and the offline duties are going to go by the wayside,
such as the antemortem and humane slaughter.
Mr. Kucinich. And if you have in Chicago, which is the
other major packing and slaughter and processing, double digit
in-plant inspection vacancy rates from April 2008 through
September 2008, that means the same thing, I take it, right?
Mr. Painter. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kucinich. And what about in Albany? Albany, for some
reason, is very high, 17.6 percent. It started in February 2008
to 16.3 percent September 2008. What do they process in Albany?
Do you remember offhand?
Mr. Painter. Mainly Albany is processing areas. You have,
of course, the Albany district covers the plant in Vermont that
has been a focus of this meeting, but----
Mr. Kucinich. So would you say there could be a connection
between then the adverse impact on the animals with respect to
enforcement of the Humane Slaughter Act on one hand, questions
of food safety on another, connected directly to not having
enough inspectors?
Mr. Painter. Yes, sir.
Mr. Kucinich. OK. Now, Mr. Pacelle, you have testified that
everywhere you have sent your inspectors they found animal
abuses and legal violations. So you would dispute then the
implication that when we saw quick action against, let's say,
Bushway, that was just an isolated incident?
Mr. Pacelle. Well, I think, Mr. Chairman, not only if you
are seven for seven--if you have seven investigations at
facilities, stockyards or slaughter plants, and you find
problems in every one, it doesn't really take a person with a
lot of insight to come to the conclusion that there is probably
a systemic problem.
I think compounding that, at Hallmark, going back to that
investigation of 2008 in Chino, CA, USDA had named Hallmark the
supplier of the year as recently as 2005, and they had just
touched--there were a couple of citations for----
Mr. Kucinich. Weren't they supplying beef for the school
lunch program?
Mr. Pacelle. Yes. They were the No. 2 supplier to the
National School Lunch Program.
Mr. Kucinich. And isn't that why a recall was established
once it was revealed what the poor sanitation practices that
existed?
Mr. Pacelle. I think the concern was that these were downer
calves. This was a cull calf slaughter plant. These were spent
dairy cows. Many of them were incapable of walking. And the
data from Europe where people have died as a consequence of Mad
Cow Disease showed that non-ambulatory cattle are 48 times more
likely to have Mad Cow Disease, or BSE, than ambulatory cattle.
And then Mr. Painter mentioned the issue of fecal
contamination. These animals are on the ground and they are
wallowing in manure, and that can contaminate the machinery.
Mr. Kucinich. You send all these inspectors out. I mean,
were your inspectors acting on tips? Were they just lucky to
find this, or do you think that the size of the problem of poor
enforcement of animal handling laws is a much bigger problem
than we might really want to face?
Mr. Pacelle. Let me just say that at Hallmark-Westland
there were five workers for FSIS, and that plant got
consistently high ratings, and I believe there were 17 third-
party audits that the company had paid for and always got the
highest ratings. We had one guy who was an animal handler, so
he was helping to offload the animals and then he would move
them toward the slaughter area, and he was there for 6 weeks
and documented case after case of terrible abuses.
I think, Mr. Chairman, that the issue is that--I mean,
there are a couple of problems. Historically speaking, USDA has
been too close to the meat industry. They have been a promoter
of the industry. They haven't been a regulator. It has just
become too incestuous, and this is what we are hoping that
Secretary Vilsack continues in his efforts to really have a
proper regulatory function.
I also want to mention that we have problems with the law,
itself. The tool that the inspectors have is to shut down the
plant. Under the Federal law, there are no criminal penalties
for serious abuses. That is why we had to go to the local
authorities, to the district attorney. And then we also think
there should be fines. I mean, these companies are treating
these animals like meat machines.
Mr. Kucinich. Right. And I would say that our subcommittee
looks forward to working with you in drafting legislation that
can make for more effective enforcement.
I just want to ask a question that I keep hammering away at
here. The connection between non-compliance of humane animal
handling laws and food safety, comment on that, please.
Mr. Pacelle. Well, I think the issue of downers, you know,
was debated for 20 years in this Congress, and the meat
industry fought it every step of the way. We warned that a
downer cow was going to be found with Mad Cow Disease, and that
is exactly what happened in 2003 at a slaughter plant in
Washington State. What resulted was not only a food safety
crisis, but more than 50 nations closed their markets to U.S.-
produced beef, and that had a multi-billion-dollar impact.
There was a study done that said it was a $12 billion impact.
So the industry was penny wise and pound foolish. They are
trying to extract every dime from the most hapless and
suffering animals by pushing them ahead into the process to
kill them, and they are potentially sacrificing--I mean, they
are certainly sacrificing the well-being of those animals, but
also the public. I quoted that information. We know E. coli,
Mad Cow Disease, other problems are associated with the
mistreatment and mishandling of animals.
Mr. Kucinich. I think it is really important that message
gets out to the public, because if they think this is just a
matter of people who have sympathy for animals that somebody is
going to eat anyway, and so who cares, there is a direct
connection between the enforcement of animal handling laws and
food safety. If people understand that, they should take an
interest in how those animals are treated.
Mr. Pacelle. And it is more than just at the slaughter
plants. We are dosing animals on factory farms with antibiotics
for non-therapeutic reasons. They are in over-crowded
environments. Because the farms are so crowded, they know the
animals are going to get sick, so they try to dose them with
antibiotics which leads to antibiotic resistant bacteria. These
are the same classes of antibiotics that we use when children
are sick or adults are sick.
Mr. Kucinich. I think you have made another appearance as
the confined animal feeding operations, a serious issue for
public safety, as well as the humane treatment of the animals.
Mr. Pacelle. And those are the animals coming to the
slaughter houses.
Mr. Kucinich. Let me do this. We are going to wrap this up
in a minute, but I have just a few questions of Mr. Eggleston.
As you note in your testimony, the slaughterhouse industry
is getting more and more concentrated into larger and larger
companies. Is there a connection between the way we regulate
the industry and increasing concentration of it? And are bigger
companies more adept in thriving under the specific regulations
we have?
Mr. Eggleston. Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. I think that in
general the scale in which the industry has built itself stands
directly in the way, as my testimony stated, for inspectors to
do their job. I just think there is too many animals, too high
a pace for them to actually get their eyes wrapped around each
animal to make sure that animal is conducive for harvest or
slaughter.
The consolidation of the industry is why I felt like we had
to do something different. If I felt like the industry was
sound and appropriate in their oversight as well as their
production, I wouldn't have had to go out and prove an almost
unimaginable task of starting a small alternative parallel food
system. So from farm to plate we are in control of every single
step. That is a model that I think brings an alternative to the
huge consolidation. That consolidation is a threat to every
American consumer because of the inability to make sure that
every single animal is fit.
Much like we have heard today in these testimonies, it is
an incredibly uncomfortable environment to be put in a position
as an inspector to have to oversee the wholesome and humane
status that comes with that legend.
Mr. Kucinich. Finally, what do your consumers tell you
about the pre-slaughter handling of the animals they are
consuming, and does it matter to them?
Mr. Eggleston. It definitely does matter. I know my
customers on an individual basis. I speak to hundreds of them
every week. We have been doing this for a decade. We also took
some video clips of our customers to let them express to you--I
will make that available to your committee.
Mr. Kucinich. We would appreciate that. And I want to thank
the witnesses and just make some closing remarks here.
I want to go back to the previous panel and tell Dr. Wyatt
how much we appreciate the fact that your courage resulted in
us being able to bring this forward.
I want to let Mr. Painter know that we know there are a lot
of good people working for the USDA, and this subcommittee just
wants to make sure that those people who really want to do
their job can do it and aren't taking the wrong cues from
upper-line management, just so you know. We appreciate the work
that you are doing.
Mr. Eggleston, you are testimony that there are producers
who are doing the right thing and they want to do the right
thing. They want to set high standards.
And Mr. Pacelle, the public owes you and the Humane Society
a debt of gratitude for taking the risks and sending inspectors
undercover to be able to show what is really happening so we
break this myth of everything is just fine and no one has to
worry about the food they consume. It is OK because it has that
stamp on there. You have really performed a public service, and
as chairman of this subcommittee I really appreciate it.
We are going to maintain an ongoing interest in this issue,
so as you get information, the Humane Society does any
investigations, you can come forward and we will look at it.
And the same thing, Mr. Painter. If you get information, if
there are whistleblowers, people trying to do the right thing,
they are getting hammered, if that still happens--and it may
not under the new administration--you can bring that forward to
this subcommittee.
I just want to make a final personal comment, and that is,
as chairman of this subcommittee, I have conducted this hearing
in a way that has been impartial, but, you know, I don't eat
meat. I don't eat chicken. I don't eat fish. Now, I don't feel
that I have a right to tell people what to eat, but I don't do
that. The Humane Slaughter Act, Mr. Pacelle, I think is an
oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. However, one thing I will
guarantee you, that for those Americans who do consume those
food products and who rely on the Government to make sure that
those products are safe, this subcommittee will relentlessly
pursue the food safety issues, and the industry can count on
that.
This is the Domestic Policy Subcommittee. I am Congressman
Dennis Kucinich, Chairman of the subcommittee.
Today's hearing has been ``Continuing Problems in USDA's
Enforcement of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.''
I want to thank all the witnesses in both panels. I want to
thank those in attendance and those who are watching.
This committee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 5:39 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
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