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Sanderson sees “environmental catastrophe” if inspectors furloughed
Story Date: 2/22/2013
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Source: MEATINGPLACE, 2/22/13
The poultry industry faces a serious animal welfare issue if the U.S. government does not resolve its budget crisis and congressionally mandated cuts including furloughs for USDA inspectors go into effect March 1, Sanderson Farms’ chief executive said Thursday.
USDA meat inspectors were deemed essential and remained on the job during past budget crises, CEO Joe Sanderson Jr. said. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently warned that automatic cuts could force a two-week closure of meat plants.
“Now that — without proper notice — would be a terrible situation for us. It would be an animal welfare issue and an environmental catastrophe for our industry,” Sanderson said in response to an analyst’s question on the company first-quarter earnings conference call.
Birds that are 60 to 62 days old and scheduled to go into processing plants, if left in poultry housing, will die within five days, he said. “They crowd up and they’re going to die. … And that's your animal welfare issue. And it becomes an environmental issue because you don't -- there is no place -- what are you going do with them?”
Furthermore, the hundreds of millions of chicks coming out of hatcheries each week would have no place to go, Sanderson said, so either the eggs or baby chicks would need to be destroyed. “Are there enough landfills for all of that?” Sanderson asked.
For more stories, go to http://www.meatingplace.com/.
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