Local

Morganton chicken processing plant noted for 33 violations of inhumane activity

By Dave Faherty, wsoctv.com
By Dave Faherty, wsoctv.com

MORGANTON, N.C. — Government regulators have filed 33 violations of inhumane activity at a chicken processing plant in Morganton.

The organization found the Department of Agriculture documented violations over a two-year period, ranking Case Farms second worst out of 300 chicken processing facilities nationwide.

Some of the violations included chickens being run over, live birds being placed in scalders and workers throwing chickens by their necks.

Channel 9 was at the processing plant as truck after truck, filled with hundreds of chickens, arrived on Friday.

"They do suffer and experience pain and distress,” said Dena Jones, of Animal Welfare Institute. “And the fact that they are being raised for food doesn't mean we don't have a moral responsibility to treat them humanely throughout their life and at their death."

Current workers at the plant wouldn't talk with Channel 9 on camera, but Bacilio Castro, a former employee, recalls problems with the treatment of birds by some of the employees.

"Kicked and thrown, do many injustice to the chicken,” Castro said.

The employees, who spoke off camera, said USDA inspectors at Case Farms makes sure what consumers eat is safe.

Animal Welfare Institute officials believe that focusing on what leaves the plant can lead to inhumane violations involving the birds being underreported.

"They're kind of across the board as far as poor animal handling goes,” Jones said.

This isn’t the first problems discovered at Case Farms.

Channel 9 investigated in 2012 after a live, fully conscious bird was buried under dead chickens in a barrel.

Case Farms did not return Channel 9’s calls about the violations.

Read more top trending stories on wsoctv.com:

Cox Media Group

Most Read