Ensuring that livestock are raised and processed humanely is a top priority for everyone in the animal agriculture and meat production communities. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is an important partner in this effort, as inspection program personnel and public health veterinarians are on-the-ground in plants to observe and verify the humane treatment of livestock. Unfortunately, a new move by FSIS is playing right into the hands of animal rights extremists who are really focused on publicity stunts, not ensuring humane handling.

Inspection reports and other FSIS data have always been available via the FOIA process, and animal rights extremist groups like PETA are known for a constant stream of information requests through that process. They will mine through them to look for violations and any potential ammunition for media stunts, no matter how minor the issue was, how long ago it was, or what steps have been taken to resolve it. PETA’s usual stunt is to send letters to local law enforcement asking them to file animal cruelty charges against the plant for whatever issue was documented by FSIS (and of course issue a press release).

While the FOIA process certainly has its flaws, it does include some safeguards to protect against the release of proprietary information. However, activists now have free reign of the data, as USDA has agreed to publicly post humane handling reports in order to settle a lawsuit filed by the Animal Welfare Institute and Farm Sanctuary (both activist organizations)[https://awionline.org/press-releases/usda-proactively-post-slaughter-records-settle-lawsuit-awi-farm-sanctuary]. Records going back to January of 2017 have now been posted on the FSIS website and are publicly accessible. AWI claims it uses this information to “conduct some of its key campaign work surrounding the treatment of animals at slaughter, such as publicizing repeated violations of inhumane handling at individual slaughter plants, and petitioning the USDA to update its slaughter regulations to mitigate needless suffering.”

While companies can use the FSIS reports to track any issues and enhance operations, it’s apparent that activist groups are using this information to intensify their campaigns by cherry-picking the data to support their agenda to undermine trust in meat production. We’ve seen an uptick in public shaming of meat processing facilities by PETA since the reports were posted, with at least 11 press releases issued since the beginning of the year calling for “criminal probes” into incidents documented in FSIS reports. These efforts undermine the important role of FSIS in overseeing humane handling in plants, implying that the current system is not sufficient and that groups like PETA are needed (instead of expert inspectors and veterinarians) to ensure that livestock are being treated properly.

Thus far, I do not know of any local law enforcement agencies who have decided to take action as a result of this type of campaign but companies need to be aware of this tactic and take proactive steps to mitigate the influence of extremist organizations. One suggestion is to be aware of what the public reports say about your company and be prepared for potential inquiries from customers or other stakeholders, including highlighting how any issues that may have been found were addressed immediately and what actions were taken to prevent any subsequent issues in the future.

Proactive publishing of humane handling data by FSIS ripe for activist abuse

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