WATERLOO, Iowa – On the morning of Sept. 1, there was no first shift pork processing at the Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Waterloo, Iowa, because of a "temporary disruption" in slaughtering operations Tuesday morning.

“We experienced a temporary disruption in part of the operations at our Waterloo plant Tuesday morning,” Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson explained to MEATPOULTRY.com. “The slaughter area of the facility stopped production for a while due to some concerns raised by a U.S.D.A. inspector over the way some hogs were being herded. We addressed and resolved these concerns and the plant resumed full operations Tuesday afternoon.”


But because of the loss of slaughter production early Tuesday, there was no first shift pork processing on the morning of Sept. 1. The disruption did not affect the entire plant, Mickelson added.

“We take the issue of animal well-being very seriously and ensure that all employees who work with live animals are properly trained,” Mickelson said. “In fact, Tyson was one of the first companies in our industry to establish a corporate Office of Animal Well-Being to monitor our animal-handling practices and coordinate our training programs.”