ABATTOIR owners have moved to distance themselves from the controversy surrounding a Sydney slaughterhouse exposed on hidden camera mistreating animals.
The shocking footage of animal cruelty was released on ABC television last Thursday, reviving painful memories of last year when graphic scenes inside Indonesian abattoirs led to the shutdown of the live cattle trade for one month.
The footage, aired on ABC's Lateline program, showed a worker bashing one pig several times over the head with a metal bar.
Another pig was hit 13 times because it had not been stunned properly. In other horrific scenes, shot by undercover workers in a covert operation with Animals Australia, sheep were seen to be skinned alive and left to bleed out while hanging on hooks.
The abattoir at the centre of the claims has been shut down and the NSW government has announced a wider investigation into all all processing facilities across the State.
NSW Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson said the footage should act as a wake-up call for all abattoir operators.
"I've seen this footage, and it may well be a one-off, but we're certainly going to review the operations in all abattoirs as a result of this," she told ABC Radio.
"I want to make sure that all operations right across NSW are being conducted in a manner which follows those animal welfare guidelines."
Several processors contacted declined to make any comment on the government probe. Calls have also been placed with the Australian Meat Processors Council for comment.
One prominent NSW processor, who asked not to be identified, said they welcomed further audits in the interests of transparency and regaining community trust.
"If that's what it takes then bring it on - we have nothing to hide," the source said.
The Australian Meatworkers Union's Lee Norris said animal cruelty was "totally unacceptable" and he hoped the full force of the law would be brought to bear on those responsible at Hawkesbury Valley Meat Processors at Wilberforce, just west of Sydney.
"As far as I'm concerned this cowboy joint should be well and truly trounced," he said.
"We've never, ever heard of this thing happening of this magnitude, even among the smallest of backyard operators. This operator in Sydney has done themself a huge disservice and the industry in terms of our reputation on quality, our humanity towards animals and food safety and hygiene."
Industry commentators have repeatedly stated that the Hawkesbury processor was in total breach of acceptable industry policies and procedures relating to the handling of animals.
Peter Day, executive director of compliance and enforcement at the NSW Food Authority, described the abattoir as a "rogue operation".
"It is not representative of the industry as a whole; this is a rogue operation that's in no way compliant with what is expected of abattoirs out there in the community," he said.
The abattoir had been visited four times in 2011, Mr Day said, but no licence breaches or problems as revealed last week had been detected.
Mr Day has defended the government's system of checks on the industry, as calls by animal rights groups intensify for increased monitoring at processing plants.
Mr Norris said he could see no problem with closed circuit television cameras installed in abattoirs as another measure to reassure the community of the industry's professionalism.
"There are many cameras already installed in a lot of abattoirs across the country and I would see no reason why our members would object to this proposal," he said.
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