010447 No Charges Will Be Filed on IBP

Yakima, WA - No criminal charges will be filed against meatpacking giant IBP Inc. after an 11-month investigation into allegations of inhumane slaughter of cattle, and worker and food safety violations at the company's Wallula meat- processing plant.

The inquiry was prompted by a hidden-camera videotape of cattle struggling on a slaughterhouse chain at the IBP plant in southeast Washington.

Walla Walla County Prosecutor Jim Nagle said he and several other prosecutors who reviewed the case agreed that there would be serious problems in trying to conduct a criminal prosecution of IBP.

“The biggest problem is, even though there is good evidence of improper slaughtering practices by the employees, there's nothing to impute that activity to the corporate level,” he said.

The Humane Farming Association, an animal welfare group in San Rafael, Calif., accused IBP of butchering cattle while they were still conscious, citing affidavits from 23 current and former workers at the plant.

A videotape the group said was made secretly by a worker shows kicking, struggling cattle hanging upside-down by their hooves from an overhead chain winding through the slaughterhouse. A portion of the tape was broadcast by a Seattle television station.

Last June, Gov. Gary Locke asked the Washington State Patrol, the state Department of Agriculture and the state Department of Labor and Industries to investigate the IBP plant, where 1,400 workers butcher about 280 cows per hour.

“We're very disturbed by what has appeared from the beginning to be a whitewash of animal mistreatment at IBP,” said Bradley Miller, national director of the Humane Farming Association.

“The evidence was irrefutable, not just the videotape, but sworn affidavits by over 20 of IBP's own slaughterhouse workers.”

He said workers have complained for years about slaughterhouse conditions, and the organization has new affidavits from workers that it will take to the state and federal inspectors.

The Washington State Patrol investigated the allegations of inhumane slaughter and animal cruelty, including assembling a comparison of both edited and unedited versions of the slaughterhouse videotape.

IBP has reached an agreement with the state Department of Agriculture that allows the department to monitor animal slaughtering practices at the Wallula plant with, among other things, unannounced inspections, Agriculture Secretary Jim Jesernig said.

IBP also agreed to cooperate with the department's goal of improving livestock handling practices with more training on slaughtering.

“We believe the agreement will provide added assurance to the public that we are doing the right thing in this important area,” said Dean Danilson, vice president for quality control at Dakota Dunes, S.D.-based IBP.

The state Department of Labor and Industries conducted an extensive review of IBP and its operations in February and found no violations related to the petition from the Humane Farming Association. Six serious violations of worker safety laws were identified in other parts of the plant, and $8,960 in penalties were levied against IBP.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has inspectors in the plant to enforce food safety standards and did not note any significant violations during the investigation.

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