Undercover Investigation Reveals Hormel Supplier Abusing Mother Pigs and Piglets

I just watched the shocking hidden-camera footage obtained by PETA's undercover investigators while they worked at a factory farm in Iowa that supplies Hormel and other meat companies. The cruelty documented by our investigator is beyond comprehension. Please watch the video and do all that you can to make sure that anyone who still eats ham, Spam, sausage, or bacon sees it.

In three months at the pig factory farm, our investigators documented that workers used metal gate rods and hard canes to beat sows. Pigs were poked in the eyes with clothespins and fingers for no reason at all, and workers and supervisors beat pregnant pigs. One supervisor even told our investigator, "You gotta beat on the bitch. Make her cry."

Baby piglets who were deemed too small to be profitable were slammed head first onto the concrete floor in an attempt to kill them, although some lingered alive for more than 12 minutes after the impact. More than 100 heavily pregnant pigs were denied water for five days, and injured and downed pigs were left for days and even weeks without veterinary care or an end to their suffering.

But the findings at this Iowa pig farm were not limited to cruelty to animals. PETA also documented an apparent violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Employees applied a spray containing "gentian violet"—a human carcinogen—to animals allegedly killed for human consumption, thereby making their flesh "adulterated," according to federal law.
The pigs at this facility need you to write to Hormel and demand they that follow PETA's eight-point policy to govern future pig farming operations. The plan includes calling for the immediate termination and criminal prosecution of anyone who is caught abusing or neglecting animals. It also includes improvements to the company's animal welfare guidelines.
Please watch the footage, write to Hormel, and vow to never again eat another hot dog, piece of ham, sausage link, or slice of bacon, because eating these "foods" supports the suffering that we documented on this farm.

Thank you for helping animals.

Sincerely, Daphna Nachminovitch
Vice President, Cruelty Investigations
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
info@PETA.org