Smithfield Launches Investigation Into Alleged Abuse

Smithfield Foods has launched a third-party investigation into a North Carolina farm where animal rights activists are claiming abuse is taking place. Meat industry publication Meatingplace reports that Direct Action Everywhere claims in a new report completed after what it says was an eight-month investigation at the facility that pregnant sows continue to be confined in “torturous” gestation stalls. The report comes despite Smithfield saying that it completed its ten-year transition to open sow housing at all of its sow farms worldwide at the end of 2017. In a statement, Smithfield says the animal rights group ignored the group housed barns on the farm that “they unlawfully broke into” in order to deliberately mislead viewers. A Smithfield official further says that the group claiming to be animal care advocates compromised the health and well-being of the pigs when they “trespassed onto farms, violated our strict biosecurity policy that prevents the spread of disease, and stole our animals.” The group claims to have “rescued” two piglets from a Smithfield farm in Utah.