More Animal Abuse Found at Major Hormel Supplier

A new undercover investigation conducted by animal-rights organization Mercy for Animals (MFA) at major meat supplier Hormel was released this week. The footage was shot at an Oklahoma farm owned by The Maschhoffs, the largest pork producers in the US. The hidden-camera video shows workers ripping out baby piglets’ testicles and slicing off their tails without any pain relief, leaving the piglets to languish from untreated injuries and illnesses, and cramming mother pigs into gestation crates—a practice banned in 10 US states and within all European Union countries. This isn’t the first time rampant abuse has been uncovered at a Hormel supplier. In 2015, another animal-rights organization, Compassion Over Killing, released harrowing footage taken at a Minnesota facility of Hormel supplier Quality Pork Processors—wherein workers hit, dragged, and shocked pigs, and allowed sick and injured animals to be sent to slaughter for food—raising health concerns for consumers. “It’s high time that Hormel took meaningful action to end the worst forms of animal abuse at its facilities,” MFA president Nathan Runkle says, adding, “and for individual consumers, the best way to help stop this cruelty is to leave meat off their plates.”