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United States Department of Agriculture
Food Safety and Inspection Service - Office of Field Operations (FSIS – OFO)

Humane Handling Quarterly Report for the 12-Month Period Ending December 31, 2012

Overview
This report provides an overview of humane handling (HH) and slaughter procedures (04C02) performed by FSIS inspection program personnel (IPP) in Federally Inspected livestock slaughter facilities. Also included is information on noncompliance records (NR) issued for inhumane handling, HH verification time recorded in the FSIS Humane Handling Activity Tracking System (HATS), FSIS slaughter data, and inhumane handling suspensions for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2012.

The FSIS Data Analysis and Integration Group (DIG) extracted data on inspection activities, slaughter totals, and HH time from the FSIS Data Warehouse including data from establishments converted to PHIS. This data was extracted January 24, 2013. The suspension data was provided by FSIS' Office of Program Evaluation, Enforcement and Review (OPEER).

Humane Handling Procedures Performed
For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2012, there were 181,143 Humane Handling 04C02 procedures performed (Table 1). This is a 34% increase from the 134,787 procedures performed for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2011. Also, procedures performed during FY 2012 increased steadily from one quarter to the next.

Suspensions
There were 70 inhumane handling suspensions at 58 FSIS facilities with an overall NR rate of 0.80% for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2012, compared to 68 inhumane handling suspensions at 54 FSIS facilities with an overall NR rate of 0.92% for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2011 (Table 2). From the 58 suspended facilities, 2 establishments had 3 suspensions each and 8 establishments had 2 suspensions each (OPEER suspension data).

Time Spent on HATS Activities
For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2012, the total HATS time was 354,916 hours in 800 FSIS livestock slaughter plants, compared to 307,205 hours for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2011 in 809 FSIS livestock slaughter plants (Table 3). The time spent by Public Health Veterinarians (PHV) was 233,953 hours compared to 120,963 hours by non-PHV inspection personnel. PHVs did 65% of the total HATS hours performed for FY 2012 compared to 53% of the hours performed in FY 2011.

Plant Size Comparison of Livestock Facilities, Head Slaughtered, Procedures Performed and HATS Activities
When breaking down the slaughter, 04C02 procedures, and HATS time data by plant size for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2012, the following was identified. Livestock heads slaughtered ranged from 3,219,211 in 566 very small plants to 126,714,764 in 62 large plants. The percent noncompliance rate was 0.24% for large plants to 0.46% for very small plants. Finally, the HATS time per 04C02 procedure performed ranged from 2.43 hours per 04C02 procedure performed in large plants to 1.37 hours per 04C02 procedure performed in very small plants (Table 4).

District Comparison of Livestock Facilities, Head Slaughtered, Procedures Performed and HATS Activities
For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2012, the noncompliance percent rate by district ranged from 0.12% in Springdale, to 0.71% in Alameda. For the same time period, the noncompliance rate per 100,000 livestock heads slaughtered ranged from 0.11 in Springdale to 3.91 in Philadelphia (Table 5).

Overall, for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2012, livestock head slaughtered increased when compared to the 12-month period ending December 31, 2011. Also, the overall HATS time increased from 307,205 hours to 354,916 hours. The number of 04C02 procedures increased from 134,787 to 181,143 and the number of noncompliances increased from 542 to 684.

District Comparison of DVMS Humane Handling Visits in Establishments Using the Systematic Approach
There were a total of 305 District Veterinary Medical Specialist (DVMS) Humane Handling visits in establishments using the Systematic Approach from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012. Of those 305 visits, 2 visits resulted in suspension(s)/withdrawal(s), 26 visits resulted in NRs being written by the Inspector-In-Charge (IIC) and 40 visits resulted in another type of action. The number of visits in establishments using the Systematic Approach varied greatly from 3 visits in the Jackson District to 81 visits in the Philadelphia District (Table 6).


Table 1: Total 04C02 Procedures Performed from 01/1/2012 to 12/31/2012

Quarter Total Performed Noncompliant Percent Noncompliant
FY12Q2 42,443 181 0.43%
FY12Q3 43,301 150 0.35%
FY12Q4 48,109 188 0.39%
FY13Q1 47,290 165 0.35%
FY12Q2–FY13Q1 Total 181,143 684 0.38%
 
FY11Q2–FY12Q1 Total 134,787 542 0.40%



Table 2: Total 04C02 Procedures Performed in FSIS Facilities Suspended for Inhumane Handling from 1/1/2012 to 12/31/2012

Quarter Suspension Initiation Total Performed Noncompliant Percent Noncompliant
FY12Q2 12 4,213 44 1.04%
FY12Q3 23 4,293 36 0.84%
FY12Q4 14 5,073 31 0.61%
FY13Q1 21 5,126 39 0.76%
FY12Q2–FY13Q1 Total 70 18,705 150 0.80%
 
FY11Q2–FY12Q1 Total 68 13,956 129 0.92%


 

Table 3. PHV and Non-PHV Time Spent on HATS activities by FSIS personnel from 01/1/2012 to 12/31/2012

Quarter PHV Time Non-PHV Time Total Time
FY12Q2 48,745 23,475 72,221
FY12Q3 50,738 25,135 75,873
FY12Q4 68,983 37,212 106,194
FY13Q1 65,487 35,142 100,629
FY12Q2–FY13Q1 Total 233,953 120,963 354,916
Staff Years* 112 58 171
 
FY11Q2–FY12Q1 Total 162,982 144,223 307,205
Staff Years* 78 69 148

*1 staff year equivalent = 2,080 hours


Table 4: Number of Federally Inspected Livestock Slaughter Facilities by Plant Size** from 1/1/2012 to 12/31/2012, including: Head Slaughtered, Inhumane Handling Suspensions, 04C02 Procedures, and HATS Time

Size Livestock Slaughter Facilities Livestock Head Slaughtered Inhumane Handling Suspensions Suspensions/ Livestock Facilities Total 04C02 Performed 04C02 Non-compliant Percent Non- compliant Total HATS in Hours HATS (hours) per 04C02 Performed
Large 62 126,714,764 9 0.15 54,218 131 0.242% 131,946 2.43
Small 172 18,888,077 19 0.11 51,190 202 0.395% 119,279 2.33
Very Small 566 3,219,211 42 0.07 75,735 351 0.463% 103,691 1.37
FY12Q2–FY13Q1 Total 800 148,822,052 70 0.09 181,143 684 0.378% 354,916 1.96
 
FY11Q2–FY12Q1 Total 809 145,027,629 68 0.08 134,787 542 0.402% 307,205 2.28

**Large—establishments with 500 or more employees; Small—establishments with 10 or more but fewer than 500 employees; very small— establishments with fewer than 10 employees.


Table 5: Total Count of Federally Inspected Livestock Slaughter Facilities and 04C02 Procedure Results and HATS Time from 01/1/2012 to 12/31/2012 by FSIS District, including Livestock Head Slaughtered, and Noncompliant by Livestock Heads Slaughtered

District Livestock Slaughter Facilities Livestock Head Slaughtered HATS Time in Livestock Facilities HATS Time in Cattle Facilities Total 04C02 Performed 04C02 Non-compliant Percent Non-compliant NRs per 100,000 Livestock Head Slaughtered
05 Alameda 38 5,147,815 39,420 30,832 12,270 87 0.71% 1.69
15 Denver 128 19,230,475 54,937 47,563 31,146 75 0.24% 0.39
25 Des Moines 83 50,319,357 46,671 22,648 27,961 104 0.37% 0.21
35 Springdale 68 15,115,324 27,892 22,089 14,267 17 0.12% 0.11
40 Dallas 57 12,432,284 39,789 32,692 15,300 42 0.27% 0.34
50 Chicago 86 22,387,844 35,162 16,815 18,572 61 0.33% 0.27
60 Philadelphia 139 4,397,776 37,629 32,833 24,777 172 0.69% 3.91
80 Raleigh 93 14,733,623 28,829 15,564 16,810 69 0.41% 0.47
85 Atlanta 53 1,573,999 23,609 18,387 10,165 34 0.33% 2.16
90 Jackson 55 3,483,555 20,977 9,614 9,875 23 0.23% 0.66
FY12Q2–FY13Q1 Total 800 148,822,052 354,916 249,037 181,143 684 0.38% 0.46
 
FY11Q2–FY12Q1 Total 809 145,027,629 307,205 214,849 134,787 542 0.40% 0.37


Table 6: Assessment Visit Outcome in Establishments using the Humane Handling Systematic Approach from 1/1/2012 to 12/31/2012

District No Action NR(s) Written by IIC Other Suspension(s)/
Withdrawal(s)		 Grand Total
05 Alameda 14 6 3   23
15 Denver 48 1 12   61
25 Des Moines 32 3 10   45
35 Springdale 6 2   1 9
40 Dallas 16 1 6 1 24
50 Chicago 15 2 2   19
60 Philadelphia 81 8 1   90
80 Raleigh 7 2 2   11
85 Atlanta 15 1 4   20
90 Jackson 3       3
FY12Q2–FY13Q1 Total 237 26 40 2 305


Last Modified: March 14, 2013
United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service