Beef industry decries cattle mistreatment

DENVER -- Despite a secretly taped video showing workers at a Southern California slaughterhouse abusing sick or crippled animals, nearly all cattle bound for American dinner tables are treated humanely, a cattle industry spokesman said Monday.

The undercover video taken at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. of Chino, Calif., by the Humane Society of the United States shows workers shocking, kicking and shoving debilitated cattle with forklifts, and has led to the largest recall of beef in U.S. history.

Bo Reagan, vice president of research for the Colorado-based National Cattleman's Beef Association, said the incident was not indicative of how most slaughterhouses operate.

"I think this is the typical rhetorical and typical false assurances that we hear from the industry after glaring problems have been exposed," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society.