Spencer, IA: (Aug 21, 2012) - Federal regulators have shut down a Central California slaughterhouse after receiving undercover video showing dairy cows being repeatedly shocked and shot before being slaughtered.
 
Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which inspects meat facilities, suspended operations Monday at Central Valley Meat Company in Hanford, California, which slaughters milk cows when they lose their value as milk producers.
 
The USDA received hours of videotape Friday from an animal welfare group, which said its undercover investigator was employed by the slaughterhouse and made the video in June.
 
Within hours of seeing the video, the USDA’s Office of Inspector General sent investigators who found evidence of “egregious inhumane handling and treatment of livestock.”
 
Veterinarians specializing in humane handling were a part of the USDA’s rapid initial inspection that led to the facility’s shutdown. The USDA told plant officials on Sunday that it was pulling its inspectors and withholding inspection marks, effectively shutting the plant down.