I was tipped yesterday that the Humane Society of the United States would announce results of another investigation into inhumane conditions at a factory farm meat producer and its sale by a major Arkansas food company.

I now have announcement of scheduled news conference later this morning. It will center on conditions at a Wyoming meat producer. Don’t know if it’s beef, pork or chicken, but Wyoming pork factory farms have been the subject of scrutiny in the past.

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UPDATE: The Humane Society release is out and includes gruesome undercover video (a tactic at least one farm state is trying to outlaw). It concerns a Wyoming pork producer owned by a supplier to Tyson Foods. It includes complaints about sow gestation crates, a method of confinement that is drawing increasing criticism. A number of major companies are removing their use from their supply chains.

Tyson responds:

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Contrary to the impression left by HSUS, there is no connection between this Wyoming farm and the pork that we process. Tyson Foods does not buy any of the hogs raised on this farm for our pork processing plants.

We do have a small, but separate hog buying business that buys aged sows; however, these animals are subsequently sold to other companies and are not used in Tyson’s pork processing business.

We’ve seen the video and we are appalled by the apparent mistreatment of the animals. We do not condone for any reason this kind of mistreatment of animals shown in the video.

Virtually all of the hogs Tyson buys for our processing plants come from thousands of independent farm families who use both individual and group housing. We require all hog farmers who supply us to be certified in the pork industry’s Pork Quality Assurance Plus program, which incorporates rigid animal well-being standards and is part of the industry’s ‘We Care’ responsible pork initiative. We validate enrollment and audit conformance to these standards. Farms that do not conform will be eliminated from our supply chain.

Tyson didn’t address a specific question about its position on use of crates in its supply chain. UPDATE: It says that among many suppliers some use sow housing, but they are types found acceptable by veterinary organizations. It said it would continue to research the issue.

The Humane Society release:

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