USDA 

~ 

United ~ates Department of Agriculture 

Food Safety and 

Inspection Service 

Alameda District 

800 Buchanan SL 

Albany, CA 94710 

Phone:(510) 769-5712 

Fax: (844) 622-0081 

Memorandum ofInformation 

Date: September 29, 2021 

To: William Griffin 

District Manager, Alameda District 

Dr. Sheryl Beckett 

Deputy District Manager, Alameda District 

From: (b)(6} 

Subject: 

Assessment of video posted on YouTube that feahrres several locations at Est. 6137 M/P, Foster 

Farms, Livingston, CA. 

Background: 

On September 28, 202 l, the organization Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) uploaded a video to 

their public YouTube account titled "Inside Foster Farms Slaughterhouse" which contained 

covert footage ofthe live hang area and bleeding area at Establishment P6I 37, Foster Farms, 

Plant 2, located in Livingston, CA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWdJst8f7Sk 

The video contains scenes ofchickens being cut and bleeding for slaughter, so viewing is limited 

to persons 18 years and o Ider. 

Multiple camera views are linked in the video, and the video is edited to speed up in sections. 

There are text overlays in scenes. The images inside the live hang shackling room are moderately 

dark and unclear due to the dimmed red lights in that room. The images ofthe bleeding line are 

mostly bright and sharp. Fixed images in the video feature photographs ofpaperwork from 

Foster Farms training, a job notice, and a Foster Farms animal handling statement. A section of 

the conveyor belt going into the live hang room is shown briefly. 

One vantage point ofthe video includes a view ofthe live hang shackling area from above and 

features the floor where deceased or weak chicke11s are placed by employees, employee actions~ 

live young chickens, motionless chickens and the condemned barrel (Dead-On-AtTival - DOAs) 

behind a plastic curtain. Another camera view is ofthe automaticknife on one ofthe slaughter 

lines (2 lines per plant) that includes electricall.y stunned chickens entering the metal guides 

advancing into the rotary knife blade. An additional view is ofthe backup cutter employees 

stationed past the automatic knife who apply a cut to the thwat jugular vein to birds that missed 

the entTy to the automatic knife or do not appear to be bleeding sufficiently after the automatic 

cut. 

An Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Page 1 of 4 
The video is 7 minutes, 58 seconds long. The filming is not continuous and is highly edited with 

sections speeded up and the different camera views linked together through the dmation. 

YouTube 

Marker 

Observations 

0:09/7:58 Text: In the Plant 2 hanging room of FosterFanns in Livingston, Califomia, 

workers hand birds onto a high-speed slaughter line moving at 140 shackles per 

minute. They work in the dark under immense pressure. 

0:41 Text: Scared birds are thrown against the shackles. 

Action: An employee is forcefully throwing a chicken from the floor onto the 

hanging table. 

0:52-0:58 Text: Condemned birds who may be conscious are thrown to the floor. 

Action: An employee shackling birds roughly tosses birds offthe hang line 

conveyor belt to the floor. 

0:58 Text: This is how Foster Farms sorts birds for slaughter. 

1:02 Text: Escaped and condemned. Condemned birds: sick, injured and dead. 

Scene: Numerous chickens on the floor, some motionless, some moving. 

1:31-1:43 Text: 280 birds are taken into " hanging" every minute. 

Scene: Take-in conveyor or conveyor at live hang. (well. lit) 

2:25 Text: The environment conditions workers to become cruel to the birds. 

Scene: Employee is tossing birds from floor onto shackling conveyor belt and 

some bit the shackles. 

2:35 Text: No sensibility test is done before throwing birds away. 

Action: Employee is tossing birds on floor over the low panel into a DOA barrel 

without checking if each bird is deceased or dislocating the neck of each bird to 

euthanize it. 

3:44 Text: Humane violations and slaughter ofcondemned birds occur here even 

when the USDA is present. 

Scene: Video highlights a bird on the floor that is alive but struggling to stand. 

A USDA inspector walks past the DOA barrel, which is on the other side ofthe 

oaitition (Inspector doesn't see birds on floor from this vantage) 

4:47 Scene: Live bird in DOA barrel. 

5:40 Text: After hanging, birds are submerged in the electrified "stun bath" 

Scene: Still photo ofthe entrance ofthe stunning trough with no birds on the 

line 

5:42 Text: Here, they emerge from the stun bath into the "blood tunnel" 

Scene: Overhead view of the shackled birds on the line emerging from the 

stunner bath and into the guides ofthe automatic killer. 

5:46 Text: but some birds hold their head above water and are not stunned 

Scene: Highlighted view of one bird that is holding its head up and does not 

appear stunned. 

5:52 Scene: Direct overhead view ofthe automatic killer machine where an employee 

is installing a blade. Line is empty and clean and not moving. 

5:56 Scene: Point of view advancing through the guides ofthe automatic killer, line 

is empty. 

An Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Page 2 of 4 
5:58 Text: In the blood tunnel, a Cantrell "killer" slices their throat. 

Scene: Empty line focused on the guides and blade ofthe automatic killer 

6:01 Text; Tbe on-stunned bird holds their head up to avoid the blade. 

Scene: Highlighted view ofthe un-stunned bird bypassing the knife 

6:10 Text: Workers are instructed to cut open these terrified birds. 

Scene: High] ighted view ofthe backup cutter employee applying a jugular cut to 

bleed bird that was missed by the automatic knife. 

6:32 Text: Wben the line stops, birds are stuck wherever they are. 

Scene: Highlighted view ofline stopped and bfrd entering the automatic knife 

apparatus before it is cut. 

6:42 Text: This is a crime, but violations here are normally kept secret. 

6:46-7:23 Scene: Bird htmg by neck advances past the backup cutter employee. The 

employee removes an additional chicken that appears to be hung by its neck and 

makes a cut on its neck. 

7:30-7:32 Scene: Photos ofFF Additional Pay sign, handwritten notes about employee 

performance, 

Findings: 

No GCP regulatory noncompliance was filmed: 9 CFR 381 .65(b) Poult,JJ must be slaughtered i11 

accordance with good commercial practices in a manner that will result in thorough bleeding of 

the carcasses and ensure that breathing has stoppedprior to scalding. Bloodft-om the killing 

operation must be confined to a relatively small area. The videos didnot feature a view oftbe 

scald tank entrance to see ifany birds were still breathing or still bleeding. 

Poor practices/possible bird ''mistreatment" that would warrant a GCP-task linked MOI ofthe 

findings. 

Employee roughly throwing birds from floor onto shackle table, sometimes hitting tbe 

shackles. 

- Employee not euthanizing each birdbefore tossing it into the DOA bmTel. 

- Live bird in DOA barrel. 

At least one bird hung by neck in shackle, appears to be two. 

Notes: 

lt is normal for smaller birds to. miss the electrified water bath for stunning. In the scenes 

depicting this, the backup cutter employees applied a jugular cut to these birds. There is no 

regulation for stunning poultry prior to slaughter. 

Respectfully, 

(b)(6) 

An Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Page 3 of 4 
Alameda District Office - FSIS Office of Field Operations 

An Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Page 4 of 4