The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "slaughterhouses" ...
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Agriprocessors and Beyond: Inside the Kosher Meat Industry
This series of articles looked inside the kosher meat industry, a quietly guarded world worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The reporting began two years ago when the Forward's Nathaniel Popper wrote about the working conditions at the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors, in Postville, Iowa, setting off a wide-ranging debate in Jewish community. The paper has continued to follow the problems at Agriprocessors and reported early in 2008 on the debate withing the kosher industry about a widely used but apparently cruel method of kosher slaughter known as shackled and hoist. Then, in the middle of the year, federal agents, citing the Forward's reporting raided the Agriprocessors' plant in Iowa. Since the raid, the Forward has followed each legal development, but has also reported on elements of the story that were being overlooked. The first such article detailed the way in which Agriprocessors had handled immigrants and unions at its Brooklyn warehouse-sparking a case that went to the Supreme Court. The next set of articles investigated the working conditions in the rest of the kosher eat industry, with particular attention paid to the labor battles at Agriprocessors' biggest competitor, Alle Processing, which had been completely ignored. The article and chart on industry-wide conditions were the first effort to systematically set down the relative size and production of the major players in the kosher meat industry. The Forward also wrote a lengthy report on the immigrant workers from Agriprocessors who had been released from prison and ordered to testify in federal court against their supervisors, but were given no means to support themselves before the hearing date. After Agriprocessors declared bankruptcy, the Forward reported on the unnoticed consequences for the town and its inhabitants, from the lowly turkeys to the local bankers.
Tags: meat processing; kosher meat; agriculture; Agriprocessors; meatpacking; immigrant workers
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In Iowa Meat Plant, Kosher 'Jungle' Breeds Fear; Injury, Short Pay
Nathaniel Popper, reporting for the Forward (NY) investigated a Kosher slaughterhouse in Postville, Iowa, where he uncovered dangerous working conditions, low pay, and anti-unionization pressures that raised questions about the ethics of the Jewish owners of the plant towards their largely immigrant workers.
Tags: Agriprocessors; Occupational Safety and Health Administration; slaughterhouse workers; Latin American immigrants; accidental amputations; Postville, Iowa; union "devils"; animal rights group; health and safety violations; Conservative Jewish synagogue movement; Kosher certification; Orthodox Judaism; immigration authorities; ethics; United Food and Commercial Workers; Father Floyd Paul Ouderkirk; Sholom Rubashkin; Caitlin Didier; Lubavitch Hasidim; Stephen Bloom; "Postville"; PETA; undocumented immigrants; Human Rights Watch; Rabbi Morris Allen; Rabbinical Council of America; Orthodox Union
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Cactus, Texas
"In a three-part series The Dallas Morning News and Al Dia examined Cactus, Texas: A town where three out of four residents were thought to be illegal immigrants; the slaughterhouse where they worked; and the local officials who walk a politcal tight wire with the biggest employer in town."
Tags: immigration; mexico; mexican; quiche; citizen; Swift; Guatemala
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Squealing was not part of lease: Residents of The Enclave weren't told of slaughterhouse during their tour
The authors investigative how a new student apartment complex at Bowling Green State University neglected to inform prospective tenants of the pig slaughterhouse that neighbored some of the apartment buildings.
Tags: housing; lease; real estate; college; university
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"Downer Cow Controversy"
This investigation began by raising questions about the lack of federal inspection outside a slaughterhouse and the treatment of cows. Particularly it raised questions about health risks involving "downer" cows -- weak, sick or crippled dairy cows processed into beef for the kitchen table. The state's beef and dairy commissions, state agencies funded by fees attached to beef and dairy products, criticized the station's reports. The television station was tried in abstentia by the Washington News Council and found to have been unfair to the beef industry. The station earlier had refused to participate in the arbitration, saying its reports were accurate and that the council itself is partial. On Dec. 23, the first U.S. case of mad cow was announced. The animal was a downer cow processed at the same slaughterhouse that was the subject of the station's initial investigation.
Tags: beef; cattle; mad cow; downer cows; USDA; dairy; E. coli; food safety; meat-packing plants; slaughterhouse
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The Most Dangerous Job in America: Thousands of meatpacking workers suffer crippling injuries each year. American slaughterhouses are grinding out meat faster than ever--an the production line keeps moving, even when the workers are maimed by the machinery. A special report from inside the nation's slaughterhouses.
This story explains how the American slaughterhouse industry works. The article explains how dangerous some slaughterhouses have become, and includes personal stories of people who have been hurt or injured while working at slaughterhouses. According to the article, "Meatpacking is the nation's most dangerous occupation. It has the highest rate of serious injury--five times the national average."
Tags: slaughterhouse; meat packing; meatpacking; danger; workplace; injury; dangerous jobs; meat; meatpacking industry; dangerous occupation
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Downer Cows
A KIRO-TV report on how sick, dying and injured dairy cattle are being processed for hamburger, with little or no oversight by federal meat inspectors.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; meat; federal meat inspectors; beef; cattle; dairy cattle; slaughterhouses; food safety
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Slaughterhouse ride
A WISH-TV undercover investigation reports on how horses are auctioned and slaughtered in Indiana. The horse meat is then sold in Europe at a good price, which has been skyrocketing after the mad cow, and the hoof and mouth diseases ravaged the beef industry. The majority of the horses sold to kill buyers are still ridable and in good shape but go to slaughterhouses "because the money 's right," WISH-TV reports. Another major finding is that many of the animals are "full of drugs that clearly state on the label "not intended for human consumption." A hidden-camera segment reveals that when the horses are loaded into double-deck trailers, and forced to kneel in pain for days before they get to the place to be butchered. The reporters examine the laws that forbid kill auctions in other states, and look at the possible legislative developments in Indiana.
Tags: animal lovers; horse races; racing horses; undercover videos; Humane Farming Association; legislation; Indiana Horse Rescue; Indiana Horse Council
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Horses for Kill
An investigation by WANE-TV reveals that "more and more Indiana horses are being slaughtered for human consumption. that alone is repulsive to many animal lovers. But a ... hidden camera... discovered something that disturbs some Hoosiers even more. The journey of death can be long and painful for a horse."
Tags: horses; Indiana; slaughterhouses; TAPE; transcript
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Slaughterhouse
KING-TV investigates "inhuman slaughter and animal cruelty violations" across the country. The investigation reveals "that cows were routinely being skinned and dismembered alive and conscious at the largest beef processing plant in Washington." The story uncovers that US Department of Agriculture inspectors are aware of the violations, but often fail to report them.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; animals; cows; torture; USDA; Humane Farming Association