Investigation follows PETA complaints against Tyson

ATLANTA — The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating an animal rights group's allegations of animal cruelty and unsanitary conditions at Tyson Foods slaughterhouses in Cumming, Ga., and Tennessee, a spokeswoman said Thursday.

Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson also is investigating the complaint, lodged by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a nonprofit that promotes vegetarianism and humane treatment of farmed animals.

The group sent an undercover investigator into both plants last fall. It put video that he shot online this week, contending the grainy footage shows workers urinating near processing lines, throwing chickens and condoning animal abuse.

"Some of the videotaped activities we've seen online do warrant investigation; however, others are being misrepresented and sensationalized by PETA," Tyson said in a statement it released Thursday.

The company, with $27 billion in sales in 2007, is the world's largest processor of chicken, beef and pork. It operates four plants in Georgia.

The agriculture department is sending teams led by veterinary specialists to the plants in Cumming and Union City, Tenn., said spokeswoman Amanda Eamich. They will check to see if chickens are handled humanely before slaughter, to minimize discomfort and injuries such as broken bones.

If the company is found to violate standards, enforcement actions range from requiring immediate corrections to suspending operations at a plant, she said.

The Forsyth County district attorney's office is reviewing PETA's allegations of animal cruelty and drug use by employees, said district attorney Penny Penn.

PETA is calling for Tyson to fire abusive employees, to install cameras in all areas of the plants where live chickens are handled and to monitor animal welfare more closely. The video ends with a PETA investigator urging watchers to go vegetarian.

The PETA investigator reported the abuse allegations to supervisors while working at the plants, but no action was taken, PETA contends. Tyson's statement contends the PETA investigator violated company policy by not reporting the suspected abuse.

PETA has been protesting Tyson's animal welfare policies for several years, including a campaign against KFC, a Tyson customer. It sent an undercover investigator into a Tyson plant in Heflin, Ala., in 2005.

"These billion-dollar corporations shouldn't have to depend on PETA to monitor their slaughterhouses and prevent workers from abusing animals," says Lindsay Rajt, of PETA.

Tyson conducts animal welfare audits weekly at all of its slaughter facilities, and previous audits have not turned up problems with the Cumming and Union City, Tenn, facilities, according to the company.

PETA also contends that its investigator documented plant workers urinating on the plant floor on nine separate days. Narration on the video indicates that two workers are urinating in the background.

"The online video is inconclusive," Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson said Thursday. "If such an activity took place, it would be a violation of company policy and not tolerated. We furnish restrooms for our team members and allow them to leave the line if they need to use them."

Elizabeth Lee writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Journal-Constitution writer Nancy Badertscher contributed.