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| The Iowa secretary of agriculture, the chief
rabbinate in Israel, and the Orthodox Union weigh in on Rubashkin's
Meats and AgriProcessors. Read their reactions here.
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AgriProcessors workers ignore the suffering
of cows who are still sensible to pain after having their throats
slit by the ritual slaughterer. The animals stagger and slip in
blood while their tracheas dangle from their necks.
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Investigation reveals slaughter horrors at Agriprocessors
Campaign Updates
Is AgriProcessors' Cruelty Kosher?
AgriProcessors, the world's largest glatt kosher slaughterhouse, has been ignoring the Jewish commitment to compassion and federal law by mutilating fully conscious animals, shocking them in the face, and slaughtering them in a way that has allowed many to stand and attempt to flee, even minutes after their throats had been slit.
Click here to read an account of what our investigator saw.
PETA's Request for Reforms Goes Unheeded
After receiving complaints alleging violations of kosher and federal law at AgriProcessors, a massive Iowa slaughterhouse that produces Rubashkin's, Aaron's Best, and Iowa's Best meats, PETA wrote to company officials and asked them to take steps to make certain that cruelty was not occurring. We suggested that the plant hire Dr. Temple Grandin, the country's leading slaughter expert, who has helped advise on matters of kosher slaughter systems, to advise them on how to avoid some of the worst abuses. AgriProcessors had its attorney, Nathan Lewin, write back to us asserting, "Kosher slaughter is being conducted in accordance with the letter and spirit of Jewish law, which prescribes the most humane treatment of animals that has been known throughout human history." The tone of the letter was not persuasive, so we took a look ourselves.
Since going public with our investigation, PETA has received countless letters of support from concerned people all over the world who are calling for quick action to stop the cruelty at AgriProcessors. Rabbis, scholars, animal welfare experts, and USDA inspectors have all spoken out about the extreme cruelty that our undercover investigator was able to capture on tape.
Click here to read the statements of other experts from around the world who all agree that the conditions at AgriProcessors have to change.
Cows and chickens aren't the only ones who are being abused by AgriProcessors. The Jewish newspaper the Forward published an article detailing the horrors of working conditions at the AgriProcessors slaughterhouse, including severe injuries that require amputations, virtually no safety training, frequent verbal harassment, and very low wages. Read the Forward's exposé. PETA's undercover investigator became very ill soon after he started working at AgriProcessors (as so many slaughterhouse workers do) as a result of the constant exposure to animals' bodily fluids, extreme temperatures, and other dangerous working conditions. Watch video footage in which PETA's investigator is denied health coverage by AgriProcessors' human resources director.
Eating Meat Supports Cruelty
Every day, hundreds of animals endured unimaginable cruelty at this AgriProcessors slaughterhouse. Maybe after seeing the fear and pain on the faces of the animals we captured on videotape, you will go vegetarian and persuade family and friends to join you. If you are already vegetarian or vegan, there's still a lot you can do to help. Please don't think that if you don't eat kosher meat, this doesn't apply to you: Kosher slaughter is more than twice as well regulated as conventional slaughter. Also, most meat from kosher slaughterhouses is sold as conventional, not kosher meat.
As PETA's previous investigations have shown, cruel
treatment of animals is routine—from standard procedures like
cutting horns, testicles, and beaks off without painkillers to sadism
in which workers mutilate, throw, stomp on, and torture animals for kicks.
At Belcross Farm in North Carolina, we videotaped
 a pig having
her leg sawed off and her skin peeled off while she was still fully conscious.
At Seaboard
Farms in Guymon,
Oklahoma, we found dying pigs left on freezing cement for days, pigs who
were clubbed in the head, and ammonia levels so high that the animals
contracted pneumonia. At Pilgrim's
Pride workers smashed chickens against cement block walls, stomped
on them, and ripped their legs and beaks off, while managers casually
walked through the area. To view our other investigative video, please
click here.
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