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 WASHINGTON (AP) - The head of the Southern California slaughterhouse that produced 143 million pounds of recalled beef acknowledged Wednesday that cows too sick to stand at his plant were apparently forced into the nation's food supply in violation of federal rules.
Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. President Steve Mendell made the admission after a congressional panel forced him to watch gruesome undercover video of abuses at his slaughterhouse. Mendell watched red-faced and grim, sometimes resting his head on his hand, as cows were dragged by chains, sprayed in the nostrils with water, shocked and harshly prodded with forklifts to get them into the box where they would be slaughtered.
Afterward Mendell briefly bowed his head, then backed away from claims he'd made in his prepared testimony, delivered under oath, that no ill cows from his plant had entered the food supply.
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