Scandalous

It was six months ago yesterday that the USDA issued the largest meat recall in American history, in response to The HSUS's undercover investigation at the Hallmark/Westland slaughter plant in Chino. The Press-Enterprise in Riverside did a six-month retrospective with four stories in the paper, which I've listed and linked below. As you'll read, I believe that the investigation provides an important backdrop for the debate over Proposition 2 in California.

In the Hallmark case, it took The HSUS to expose the cruelty at this slaughter plant, with the industry and the government giving high grades to the plant. The same dynamic is at work with the inhumane treatment of veal calves, breeding pigs, and laying hens in small cages that restrict nearly all movement. The industry says these operations are just fine, as they did with slaughter operations at Hallmark. But we know better, and we are working hard to show why the factory farming industry needs some restraints placed on its operations, including the provisions set forth in Proposition 2. It can't be humane if animals are confined so tightly they can hardly move.