Trucker spotted beating hogs at South Dakota plant

A meat processing plant in Sioux Falls was temporarily shut down on Sept. 8 after a USDA inspector witnessed a truck driver beating his hogs with a paddle as he unloaded the livestock to be slaughtered, the Argus Leader reports. The incident appeared to violate federal laws. The South Dakota plant was closed for about six hours during the investigation.

According to a letter from the Minneapolis district manager for the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the hogs were struck 15 to 20 times, with “an overhead chopping action with as much force as the operator could muster,” the Associated Press reports.