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World’s Largest Pork Producer Abuses Livestock Then Makes False Welfare Claims

  • Spence Cooper
  • November 7, 2011

The Securities and Exchange Commission has received a legal complaint from The Humane Society alleging that Smithfield Foods (and subsidiary Murphy-Brown, LLC) made false and misleading claims to shareholders and consumers about its corporate responsibility practices in violation of federal securities law.

Smithfield Foods, Inc. is the world’s largest pork packer and hog producer and the parent company of Murphy-Brown, LLC.

The misleading claims were made in a video series “Taking the Mystery out of Pork Production” and falsely suggests Smithfield has higher animal welfare and environmental standards than it really does. The complaint further alleges that the videos are deceptive in their depiction of Smithfield’s use of antibiotics in animal feed.

False, misleading, and deceptive statements and omission of facts are prohibited by federal securities law.

“Smithfield’s attempt to mislead its shareholders about animal welfare adds insult to the injuries inflicted daily on the animals confined in its facilities,”said Jonathan Lovvorn, senior vice president and chief counsel for animal protection litigation at The Humane Society.

“Smithfield cannot shirk its responsibility to stakeholders and animals by simply offering false claims about providing ideal’ living conditions”

The videos are presented as a demonstration of the company’s commitment to product quality, food safety and animal care in practice. The entire series of videos are posted on various sites, including the Murphy-Brown corporate site and the Smithfield Foods Channel on YouTube.com.

The Humane Society claims Smithfield videos falsely suggest that it provides animals with “ideal”living conditions and that their animals’ “every need is met,”despite virtually all of Smithfield’s breeding sows being confined in­ (gestation crates) metal cages that immobilize animals for nearly their entire lives.

Smithfield also routinely castrates animals and cuts portions of their tails off without painkillers. Sows suffer from open pressure sores and other ulcers and wounds that developed from their confinement and inability to change positions in the crate.

Abscesses sometimes form from simple scratches due to ever-present bacteria. The Humane Society complaint says an investigator never saw a veterinarian at the operation. “A barn manager told the investigator to ignore a sow with a basketball-sized abscess on her neck, and then cut the abscess open with an unsterilized razor.”

The Humane Society also alleges that Smithfield employees jab lame sows’ in the neck and back with gate rods to force them to move. Smithfield’s own animal welfare advisor, Dr. Temple Grandin, has stated that gestation crates “are a real problem”and “have to go”

In 2007, Smithfield pledged to end its use of gestation crates at company-owned facilities by 2017. In 2009, Smithfield removed that timeline and has yet to publicly set a new one.

The videos were released just months after an Humane Society undercover investigation [see video] that documented severe cruelty inside a Smithfield facility in Virginia.

The videos also include false and misleading claims about an environmental certification from the International Organization of Standards and misleading claims of “organic”agriculture.

Not a single federal law provides protection to farmed animals during their lives on factory farms, where many workers have nothing but contempt for farm animals. There is no excuse for the senseless brutality inflicted on factory farm animals.

Smithfield Link to Swine Flu

World’s Largest Pork Producer Abuses Livestock Then Makes False Welfare ClaimsIn 2009, Granjas Carroll Farms, a subsidiary of Smithfield Foods located in Mexico, was linked to a swine flu outbreak.

The connection was made by residents and two Mexican newspapers. Both newspapers reported that the “Mexican health agency IMSS acknowledged the original carrier for the flu was with the Smithfield subsidiary.

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