This is What Happens to Walmart Pork Before it Reaches Your Plate

The cruelty inherent in animal factory farming is something that we as a species should find completely and totally unacceptable. Indeed, evidence shows that when people are exposed to the nightmarish conditions faced by factory animals prior to consumption they demand change. This is precisely why corporate interests have pushed ag-gag laws throughout the nation in an attempt to criminalize the exposure of these methods.

I am sure many of you have already been exposed to videos of shocking animal cruelty before. Even if you have, the video below created by Mercy for Animals is a very important watch. It exposes unthinkable abuse of tiny, helpless pigs for absolutely no good reason. These incidents were filmed at Pipestone System’s Rosewood Farms in Pipestone, Minnesota earlier this year.

WARNING: Parts of this video are extraordinarily disturbing. While I think it is important for people to watch it and be aware, it might be too much to handle for some.

More from the Huffington Post:

Undercover footage that appears to show horrifying conditions at a Walmart pork supplier has prompted investigations at a Minnesota factory farm.

Local law enforcement executed a search warrant at Pipestone System’s Rosewood Farms in Pipestone, Minn., on Oct. 9, following a complaint filed by animal rights nonprofit Mercy for Animals. The organization says an undercover private investigator collected first-hand evidence, including video footage, of inhumane treatment of pigs raised and slaughtered at the facility.

The hidden-camera footage appears to show pregnant pigs confined in tiny “gestation crates,” pigs being punched and abused, and piglets being thrown on their heads and mutilated without anesthetic.

Matt Rice, the director of investigations at Mercy for Animals, told HuffPost the investigator — whose identity has been kept private — spent 10 weeks posing as an employee at Rosewood Farms earlier this year.

“Pregnant pigs are confined in tiny metal crates that are just barely big enough to hold them,” he said of the factory farm. “They’re basically immobile for their entire lives. They can’t turn around, they can’t lie down comfortably, and they suffer from large open wounds and pressure sores from rubbing against the bars.”

Rice calls these gestation crates — banned in the European Union and in nine U.S. states, including California, Colorado, Florida and Arizona — “one of the most cruel forms of institutionalized cruelty.”

Unlike more than 60 other major retailers, including Kroger, McDonald’s, Safeway,Costco and Kmart, which have all refused to work with pork suppliers that use gestation crates, Walmart has not instituted such a policy.

The nonprofit says it has conducted at least two dozen such undercover investigations at factory farms, dairy farms, hatcheries and slaughterhouses in recent years — three of which, including the most recent at Rosewood, were at Walmart pork suppliers.

“Every single time, our investigators have brought back images that would horrify most Americans,” Rice said. “This is a sign that mutilating animals without anesthesia and confining them in cages so small they can’t turn around are considered standard industry practice.”

Full article here.

In Liberty,
Mike

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20 thoughts on “This is What Happens to Walmart Pork Before it Reaches Your Plate”

  1. Thanks for highlighting the horrors of factory farming, Mike.

    A better way – Joel Salatin:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nIcfh2UqV8

    Final note. While I respect people’s choice to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle, the “vegetarian” message actually hurts the ‘moral food’ cause. Humans are omnivores and should not be made to feel guilty for eating meat. When these groups equate vegetarianism with a moral food system they do a disservice by distracting from the message of humane treatment of the animals which sustain us.

    Reply
    • Just because humans are omnivores does not mean we are designed for that – it is simply a testament to how adaptable we are. Human physiology is designed for plant eating. Our digestive tracts and chemistry, dentition, and ideal macronutrient ratios – among many other factors – are designed for plants.

      All of the healthiest and longest lived societies have ALWAYS existed on a primarily plant based diet, with very small percentage of calories from animal sources. All chronic western diseases are directly attributable to consumption of excessive animal fats and particularly proteins. Colin Campbell’s research in this area is simply unassailable, as much as the paleo chumps and industry shills want to muddy the waters.

    • I buy that the largest portion by volume of one’s diet should be veggies, and some fruits.

      But as for the rest, yes the water is pretty muddy.

      Maybe Campbell’s research is unassailable, but plenty have assailed it. There is a lot of criticism of the stats used that one can find online. I haven’t given the time to assess it.

      Meanwhile, Weston Price says he didn’t find any vegan populations that were very healthy. People should read both Campbell’s China Study and Price’s Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.

      One thing in your comment that is clearly mistaken: “All chronic western diseases are directly attributable to consumption of excessive animal fats and particularly proteins.” What about:
      –Excess sugar consumption?
      –Excess consumption of simple carbs (pasta, white bread, etc.)?
      –Nasty industrial fats (soy, corn, canola, etc)?
      –Processed foods full of chemicals?
      –GMO?
      –And if that were true, why are there highly healthy populations on traditional diets that are very high in animal protein, like Eskimo and Masai?

    • All I can say is read the China Study and make up your own mind. With all due respect (none), W. Price and his “foundation” are a bunch of (mostly overweight) clowns. Arguing against the clear results of the largest epidemiological study ever conducted is for idiots trying to justify their bad habits, personal biases, or paychecks.

      During WW2, when European populations were forced to revert to a mostly (starch) plant based diet, ALL of the common western diseases went way down – and right back up after the war when people went back to their accustomed diet. Processed carbs are not good, but are not flat out carcinogenic – as animal protein has been proven conclusively to be, particularly casein.

      Nearly all typical western disease can be significantly slowed, stopped, or in many cases reversed with a whole food, low fat, plant based diet – this also is unassailable. There is no such thing as a bad carb from a whole plant food source. You can live perfectly well for a long, long time on potatoes or bananas alone.

      The “highly healthy” Eskimos and Masai are living in environments on the fringe of what is habitable by humans. I suggest you look into how highly healthy these people really are – they ain’t.

      Bottom line is that mind is the most powerful force in the universe – if your head is in the right place you can live a long, healthy life despite a less than ideal diet – once again a testament to the adaptability and resilience of the human being, rather than an endorsement to eat animal products.

    • When you begin with the premise that vegetarianism is the ONLY moral course you alienate the better part of the audience as they are not ready to reject meat altogether.

      If I were a sly meat packer I’d be funding YOU, as it deflects attention away from the horrors of this factory treatment of animals.

      Being an arrogant snit does not help the cause of a moral food system.

    • Hey @Peter why don’t you pay attention, dimwit. My arguements are based soley upon human physiology – I did not even touch on morality at all.

  2. I grew up on a small pig farm, what would be considered Step 3 or 4 by Whole Foods standards.

    The castration of the piglets is done routinely like that. I did not see use of antibiotic sprays. We used one that had some numbing capability. I remember watching my mother and grandmother doing that evolution whenever the piglets were old enough.

    As for the death of the piglets due to the sows crushing them, that unfortunately occurred quite frequently. I was responsible for disposing of the dead piglets. As for how we killed the runts or the piglets that had atrophied legs, we used a small caliber pistol, not banging them on the ground. That is inhumane in my opinion. This is also easily corrected.

    The dropping of the piglets while handling is a loss of revenue due to reduced litter yields. Here there is room and natural incentive for the operator to prevent this from occurring without external intervention. If you take care of your animals you loose fewer and have higher profit.

    As for the crates, their purpose is to prevent the sows from rolling over on the piglets, you actually loose fewer that way. Welfare of the mother for the life of her offspring… which is better off? Additionally, I remember litters where there were a large number of still born piglets. Even with bringing in new life there was often times death.

    Moving pigs: Try it some time. Come back and let me know how it went. If you didn’t get your leg crushed or foot broken let me know, pigs weigh two to three times your weight and are damned smart, strong, and fast.

    I grew up around life and death as part of my daily life. This is how the world works. It is dirty and raw.

    Now where the real nit and gritty comes in. Those producers are trying to increase their output and reduce the price of food in the economy. The EU outlawing the nursing pens is one way to ensure higher prices of pork delivered to the market. This shifts marginal utility from one product to another. I hesitate to use the EU as an example of non interventionist markets. The question in any regulation is cui bono.

    I suggest you look at Bruce Yandle’s Bootlegger and Baptist theory on why we have regulation and how it comes into place. Learn Liberty has a YouTube video that is very nicely done.

    Reply
    • Good perspective. Still, who wants to eat that crap?

      I would much rather eat traditionally raised animals–free and eating what they evolved to eat, no hormones, no atrocious conditions that make them unhealthy, and therefore few to no antibiotics. I’m looking to get out of the rotten mainstream US food system, just like it’s rotten mainstream financial and education system.

      You may be right about regulation. If people do want to eat that crap, I’m not interested in policing them (as long as they’re not contaminating my environment with CAFOs). Nature will (is) police them with bad health.

  3. I am sick and tired of this bloody Wal-Mart and the family that runs it. I buy nothing from them except two pairs of short trousers and three shirts every year, which I cannot find elsewhere. I buy nothing else, repeat NADA!! Nothing!! Put these bastards out of business.

    Reply
  4. What you saw in this video is by no means limited to Walmart, nor to pigs – pardon the redundancy.

    This is standard procedure in factory farming of living creatures that supplies virtually all stores.

    I prefer to avoid hiring others to do to my food what I would be unwilling to do myself.

    If you feel similarly, visit http://www.certifiedhumane.org/ which has the most comprehensive standards and verified producer compliance.

    You can see their standards here http://www.certifiedhumane.org/index.php?page=standards

    and you can see options to acquire humanely raised and handled product here http://www.certifiedhumane.org/index.php?page=producers-products .

    Support family farm operations that assure you of their commitment to quality, sustainability, and humane treatment of their sentient creatures.

    Reply
    • I’m not trying to convert anyone to anything, just stating some facts, and flinging some shit on the paleo morons and their cartoonish ideas of what paleolithic people ate. Have a nice day.

    • BS.

      You’re overstating what you know, apparently with an axe to grind, judging from your obnoxious attitude.

      ‘Mostly overweight’. As if you know this.

      I eat more or less in a Weston Price way, and I have the most effortless good physique I’ve had in my life. Maybe my arteries are clogging and the cancer is spreading, but overweight? No.

      My 60+ year old mother came to stay with me for 11 months, and ate this way as well. She looked and felt better than she had in years.

      Paleo? Who said anything about paleo? As near as I can tell there are a lot of people calling different things paleo.

    • Sorry to be obnoxious, I’m glad you are healthy, or at least trim. My snide comment about weight was in reference to the low carb/paleo gurus being mostly obese – Atkins, Fallon, et al. I think there’s one skinny guy.

    • Perhaps you need a remedial course on reading comprehension, douche bag. If you come out flinging insults, perhaps you should be prepared to defend your position, ass eater.

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