McDonald's today became the second major U.S. fast food chain to stop buying beef from a California meat supplier after federal inspectors temporarily shut down the plant, citing evidence of "egregious, inhumane handling and treatment of livestock." 
 
 "Central Valley Meat (CVM) provided raw beef to several of our suppliers," said a McDonald's spokesperson. "However, upon learning about USDA's decision to suspend CVM, we took immediate action and suspended supply from this facility, pending further investigation." 
 
 The USDA took action after inspectors viewed an undercover video made at CVM's Hanford, California facility over two weeks last month by an investigator for the animal rights group, Compassion Over Killing. 
 
 The video, which first aired publicly Tuesday on "World News with Diane Sawyer," shows workers using electric prods on cattle that can barely walk. Compassion Over Killing also alleged that the company used potentially diseased "downer cows" and treated them in an inhumane manner. 
 
 On Tuesday, prior to the ABC News report, In-N-Out Burger announced that it would suspend purchases from CVM, which had provided 20 to 30 percent of the chain's beef. 
 
 In a statement to ABC News, the chain's chief operating officer, Mark Taylor, said, "In-N-Out Burger would never condone the inhumane treatment of animals, and, in fact, all of our suppliers must agree to abide by our strict standards for the humane treatment of cattle." 
 
 CVM is also a supplier of beef to U.S. schoolchildren. The USDA purchased 21 million pounds of meat from CVM last year for Federal feeding programs, which includes the National School Lunch Program. CVM provided 15.7 percent of the total beef purchased by the USDA in 2011. 
 
 Both McDonald's and the USDA stress that there were no food safety issues that prompted the shutdown at CVM and that beef purchased there was not compromised. 
 
 "McDonald's cares about how our food is sourced and we have a long history of action and commitment to improve the welfare of animals in our supply chain," said McDonald's in a statement. "There are behaviors in the video which appear to be unacceptable and would not adhere to the standards we demand of our suppliers." 
 
 McDonald's also characterized CVM as an "extremely small supplier" of beef to the chain, accounting for a "low single digit" percentage of its beef supply. 
 
 In a statement, the USDA said, "The Department works to ensure that product purchased for the Federal feeding programs meets stringent food safety standards and that processors comply with humane handling regulations. While some of the footage provided from this facility shows unacceptable treatment of cattle, it does not show anything that would compromise food safety." 
 
 The president of Central Valley Meat, Brian Coelho, said Tuesday that his company "[takes] these allegations [of abuse] seriously and we are committed to correcting any problems identified on the video as quickly as we possibly can." Coelho said the allegations "are both disturbing and surprising" because the plant is "under continuous inspection by USDA Food Safety and Inspection personnel who are empowered to take immediate action when they observe a problem." 
 
 Erica Meier, the executive director of Compassion Over Killing, said the failure of on-site federal inspectors was its own red flag. 
 
 "These abuses inside slaughter houses across the country are often happening right under the nose of government inspectors," said Meier. 
 
 Click Here for the Blotter Homepage. ||||| Undercover video of inhumane handling at Central Valley Meat Co., a California slaughterhouse that supplies beef to the nation’s school lunch program, doesn’t show injured “downer” cattle entering the food supply, U.S. regulators said. 
 
 The Agriculture Department is investigating whether cattle that were too sick to stand or walk were slaughtered, a practiced banned because of the risks for mad cow disease, after receiving a video from an animal welfare group that showed mistreatment of the cows. 
 
 “Our top priority is to ensure the safety of the food Americans feed their families,” Alfred Almanza, administrator of the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, said yesterday in a statement. “We have reviewed the video and determined that, while some of the footage provided shows unacceptable treatment of cattle, it does not show anything that would compromise food safety. Therefore, we have not substantiated a food safety violation at this time.” 
 
 Cattle that can’t walk any time prior to slaughter must be humanely euthanized and discarded so as not to enter the food supply. The facility in Hanford, California, was shut down Aug. 19 after regulators received video of slaughter practices and confirmed “inhumane handling violations,” the agency said on Aug. 20. No meat has been recalled. 
 
 Downed and spent dairy cows stumbling and struggling to walk are shown in the video seen by Bloomberg News from the Washington-based group, Compassion Over Killing. Workers are shown pulling or lifting the livestock by their tails. 
 
 Video Footage 
 
 The footage was taken over two weeks from June 18 to July 2 with a hidden camera showing actions, such as excessive force to get animals to move, that violate federal guidelines aimed at protecting the food supply, Erica Meier, executive director of Compassion Over Killing, said in an interview. 
 
 “We believe they violated the guidelines,” she said. 
 
 The animal-rights group’s methods are similar to how the Humane Society of the U.S. obtained undercover video that led to the 2008 recall of 143 million pounds of meat from Westland/Hallmark Meat Co., also a supplier to the U.S. school lunch program. That recall occurred partly because of concern that downed cattle had been slaughtered. 
 
 The Central Valley plant was shut down because the USDA immediately suspended the assignment of inspectors to the establishment and is withholding marks of inspection necessary for sale. All handling activities are done under continuous inspection by USDA personnel. 
 
 USDA Investigation 
 
 The USDA directed its Office of the Inspector General to investigate the allegations. A team, including veterinarians who specialize in humane handling, were sent to Central Valley Meat to determine if egregious inhumane handling of livestock occurred. 
 
 Brian Coelho, president of Central Valley Meat, said he couldn’t comment on the video because it hadn’t been shared with the company. 
 
 “We are extremely disturbed to be informed by the USDA that inspection was suspended and our plant could not operate based upon a videotape that was provided to the department by a third party group that alleged inhumane treatment of animals on our property,” Coelho said Aug. 20 in a statement. 
 
 A person answering the telephone yesterday at Central Valley Meat declined to give their name or provide any information about the company. Compassion Over Killing yesterday posted video footage on its website. 
 
 There have been four cases in the U.S. of cattle with mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, with the most recent discovery confirmed by the USDA on April 24 in a dairy cow. The first was discovered in December 2003, and U.S. beef exports tumbled 82 percent to 460.3 million pounds during the next 12 months as dozens of countries banned the product, government data show. Most trade has resumed. 
 
 To contact the reporter on this story: Stephanie Armour in Washington at sarmour@bloomberg.net 
 
 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net
– McDonald's is quickly backing away from the California beef plant linked to animal abuse in an undercover video that's reverberating around the meat industry, reports ABC News. The fast-food joint joins In-N-Out as the second major chain to dump Central Valley Meat after the feds shut it down, citing "egregious, inhumane handling and treatment of livestock." "McDonald's cares about how our food is sourced and we have a long history of action and commitment to improve the welfare of animals in our supply chain," said a McDonald's statement, calling the behavior in the video "unacceptable." The video shows cattle barely able to walk being repeatedly hit with cattle prods. The animal rights group that released it says CVM included downer cows, and their potential diseases, in the production of raw beef. But an Agriculture Department review of the footage found no evidence of downer cattle making their way into the food supply, reports Bloomberg.