House of Representatives Takes Steps to Prevent Cruel High-Speed Slaughter Program

In a continued effort to fight the USDA’s cruel and reckless high-speed slaughter program, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee has approved the DeLauro-Price Amendment as part of the Fiscal Year 2020 Agriculture Appropriations bill.

This Amendment, sponsored by Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and David Price (D-NC), would block funding of the new rule until the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provides findings on the data used to develop this program. USDA must then address whatever issues the OIG raises. But if the USDA is allowed to increase line speeds and reduce accountability, it will be dangerous for animals, workers, and consumers alike.

Compassion Over Killing investigator Scott David has witnessed these high-speed horrors firsthand. Working in a plant operating under this slaughter rate of 1,300 pigs per hour, he documented pigs being beaten, shocked, dragged, and improperly stunned, as workers tried to keep up. Due to reckless line speeds, many animals suffered tremendously.

This bill could be a step in delaying–and hopefully ending–this rule, which has been widely criticized by animal welfare, workers’ rights, and food safety groups. The New York Times editorial board even recently took a formal stance against the rule, writing that it  “the government — rather astonishingly — has maintained the [fast-speed] pilot program for two decades without proving that it works.”

In addition to policy, one of the most important steps we can take to protect pigs is leaving them off our plates and boycotting this cruel industry. To take action, call the USDA today to urge it to put the brakes on high-speed slaughter. And make your next meal a vegan one.

TAKE ACTION FOR ANIMALS: Call the USDA at 202-720-9113 and urge it to put the brakes on high-speed slaughter! Use our sample below (or your own polite message), and don’t forget to email campaigns@cok.net to let us know how your call went.

SAMPLE SCRIPT:

My name is _____, and I am calling as a concerned consumer to urge you to put the brakes on cruel, dangerous high-speed pig slaughter. A Compassion Over Killing investigation of high-speed pig slaughter plant Quality Pork Processors documented pigs being shocked, dragged, and improperly stunned, as well as pigs covered in feces or pus-filled abscesses being processed for human consumption–with a USDA inspection seal of approval. Please don’t increase animal suffering–and put workers and consumer safety on the line–under the guise of “modernization” of slaughter. Thank you.