The USDA is a fucking joke.

 

“Captive bolt guns, which slaughterhouse workers shoot into cows’ heads to stun them before slaughter, are notoriously unreliable. One former slaughterhouse worker told The Washington Post that “dozens” of the steer who would pass by his assembly line station each day were still conscious. He cut their legs off anyway.”

 

 

Update (9/13/2012): The U.S. Department of Agriculture has concluded its investigation into the sickening conditions at Central Valley Meat Company and concluded that no diseased animals entered the food stream, according to The New York Times. The USDA plans to conduct quarterly audits of the facility; how this will be an improvement over the previous arrangement of two inspectors on-site full-time is unclear.