Last September, a federal inspector at the Cargill poultry factory in Dayton recorded an incident of improper poultry handling. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
Poultry processing facilities such as Cargill Meat Solutions are supervised by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service. On September 14th, an inspector at the Dayton facility found 30 to 40 turkey toms that had been hung upside down by shackles for approximately an hour and a half, without being stunned or slaughtered. About a quarter of the birds had died from asphyxia from being suspended in that position, and another quarter showed respiratory distress and/or injuries such as broken wings from trying to right themselves.
The inspector noted that it is against the Poultry Products Inspection Act and agency regulations for birds to die from causes other than slaughter. Later that month, an inspector noted that a turkey at the plant was caught under a trailer tire and died.
In response to these incidents, the organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, wrote to Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst asking her to investigate. As the Daily News-Record previously reported, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office planned to follow up on the incident.
Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson told WMRA in an email that [quote] "... we are looking into that matter and at this time we have not found any facts or info that would lead to any charges of any kind." [end quote]
When reached by phone, an employee at the plant said the company declined to comment.
These two incidents did not rise to a severe infraction level under what are called Good Commercial Practices by the Food Safety and Inspection Service, and a spokesperson with the agency told WMRA that the Cargill "establishment does not have a history of handling poultry out of compliance."
