Rally at USDA Against Dangerous High-Speed Slaughter: Former Investigator Plays Shocking Footage, Pig-Costumed Volunteers Deliver a Quarter Million Petition Signatures

Washington, DC — April 24, 2018 — Today, Compassion Over Killing (COK) brought media and the voices of over a quarter million people to the doorstep of the US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) in the nation’s capital, in a rally against the expansion of the federal agency’s dangerous high-speed pig slaughter program.

The New Swine Slaughter Inspection System (NSIS) would allow slaughterhouses to further increase their already fast kill speeds while simultaneously reducing the number of government food safety inspectors on the line.

Standing in front of the USDA’s office at  Patriot Plaza III, COK’s Executive Director Erica Meier kicked off the press conference featuring powerful words by Corporate Campaigns Manager Laura Cascada and former investigator Scott David.

While David’s hidden-camera footage, played for attendees, revealed the gut-wrenching truth on its own, he also recounted the horrors he witnessed inside Quality Pork Processors (QPP) —  one the country’s fastest slaughter plants, killing about 1,300 pigs each hour under the USDA pilot program, known as “HIMP.”

David said, “Consumers would be shocked to learn what slides under the radar at these high-speed facilities,” as he recalled pigs at QPP “pushed, excessively prodded, jabbed, hit, and dragged by workers to keep up with the line,” and “many carcasses covered in either feces or abscesses full of pus being processed for human consumption — all with a USDA inspection seal of approval.”

Thousands of public comments have been sent to the USDA on its “Modernization of Swine Slaughter Inspection” proposal ahead of the May 2nd deadline. Erica Meier called the rule, “anything but modern,” saying that “this program actually rolls back progress, jeopardizing millions of animals, workers and consumers.”

COK’s Corporate Campaigns Manager, Laura Cascada, who has spearheaded much of the organization’s continued work against the USDA program, stated, “A slaughter rate of more than one pig every five seconds is simply dangerous and inhumane.”

Today’s event culminated with the delivery of more than a quarter million petition signatures, brought into the USDA by David and pig-costumed volunteers on behalf of millions of real pigs threatened by the agency’s cruel program.

For investigative footage, please visit: COK.net/Hormel

# # #
Compassion Over Killing (COK) is a nonprofit animal protection organization working to end the abuse of farmed animals through undercover investigations, litigation, corporate outreach, public education, and other advocacy programs. https://cok.net