Humane Society accuses Minnesota chicken processor of animal cruelty

The Humane Society of the United States is alleging that a Minnesota slaughterhouse treated chickens inhumanely and cruelly. Representatives of Butterfield Foods Co. in Butterfield deny the allegations and say the company complies with all laws and industry standards.

The group says an undercover investigator working at the Butterfield facility from September to December saw hens that were ineffectively stunned before slaughter or submerged in scalding water to remove their feathers while still alive.

"What we found and documented on video in Butterfield is truly sickening," said Paul Shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection for the Humane Society of the United States. The group alleges that some hens were still alive after being stunned and having their throats cut. In one half-hour period, Shapiro said the group's undercover investigator pulled 45 birds from a slaughterhouse line that were still alive after being immersed in hot water.

"Dunking one animal into a tank of scalding hot water and drowning her is a serious problem," Shapiro said. "The fact that our investigator witnessed this on such a routine basis, we're talking about dozens of birds per half hour having this happen to them, really demonstrates that this is a very serious problem at this particular plant."

Shapiro said the investigator also documented sick and injured birds being thrown against the wall or into the trash. The group has released a video of footage secretly recorded by the investigator at the facility.

Terence Fruth, an attorney representing Butterfield Foods Co., said the video is misleading and that the group's allegations aren't plausible.

"Our investigation concludes that it's highly unlikely that any birds were alive — alive as defined in the law — when the birds went into the tank of water used in the de-feathering process," Fruth said.

About 140 workers are on the floor during each shift, including eight USDA employees, Fruth said. Each week, the facility processes about 400,000 spent hens, which are older birds that no longer lay as many eggs.

"We're in compliance with all the guidelines that the federal government puts out," Fruth said. "It's highly unlikely that 140 people that are on the floor, who are mostly union, would ever see something like that without bringing it to the attention of management and the USDA."

The Humane Society of the United States has filed a complaint of animal mistreatment with the Watonwan County Sheriff's Department, as well as USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service for violations of the Poultry Products Inspections Act. Company officials said they are not aware of any pending investigation.

The group's undercover recordings were taken by a Humane Society of the United States investigator who worked at the facility for 57 days, Shapiro said. The agricultural industry has strongly opposed animal rights' groups practice of secretly recording conditions at facilities like slaughterhouses. States like Iowa and Utah have passed laws outlawing the practice.

Although Butterfield Foods Co. was chosen as the location for the investigation at random, Shapiro said the group believes that similar conditions occur at facilities across the country. Chickens are exempt from the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, but Shapiro said his group sent a letter on Monday to large poultry processors urging them to adopt more humane slaughtering procedures.

A spokesperson for the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said the agency is aware of the allegations and "conducting an immediate and thorough investigation of the events that occurred at Butterfield Foods."

The agency said the rate at which birds die inhumanely in slaughterhouses fell to an estimated .008 percent in 2013.