USDA: ‘Filthy’ slaughterhouse sold to Seattle restaurants Undercover agent looked on as animals killed with dull knife on kill floor caked with blood, feces

Investigators with the U.S. Department of Agriculture claim an unlicensed slaughterhouse was being operated out of this farm, located in Edgewood, Wash. Pictured in a Google Maps photo. Investigators with the U.S. Department of Agriculture claim an unlicensed slaughterhouse was being operated out of this farm, located in Edgewood, Wash. Pictured in a Google Maps photo. Photo: GOOGLE MAPS Photo: GOOGLE MAPS Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close USDA: ‘Filthy’ slaughterhouse sold to Seattle restaurants 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Federal agents looking into allegations that several Seattle restaurants are serving up illegally slaughtered meat claim to have discovered a disturbing scene at an unlicensed slaughterhouse.

Undercover investigators watched as sheep died screaming at a filthy Sumner-area barn, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture special agent’s statement. Meat butchered at the farm was then loaded into passenger cars and driven unrefrigerated to restaurants around Seattle.

Investigators identified restaurants in Seattle’s Central District and Columbia City neighborhood as suspected customers of the slaughterhouse. The ongoing investigation has not yet resulted in any criminal charges. Seattlepi.com generally does not publicize suspects’ identities unless charges are filed.

Writing in a sworn statement, the special agent said the USDA’s Office of Inspector General and Food Safety Inspection Service launched an investigation in January following a tip.

An informant told investigators that a man was delivering “meat product” from an unlicensed slaughterhouse to Seattle restaurants, the special agent said in a March 22 search warrant affidavit. The investigation led agents to a farm in Edgewood, located in Pierce County just west of Sumner.

The man was buying mutton from the farm, which also sold lamb, goat and pork. (Meat from a sheep older than 1-year-old is considered mutton, while meat from younger sheep is sold as lamb.)

According to the agent’s statement, the man was hauling garbage bags packed with meat from the farm to Seattle in the rear of his Scion hatchback.

Video taken by the informant showed the slaughterhouse to be filthy, the agent said. Blood and viscera were caked on the barn floor while three men slaughtered animals inside.

On Feb. 18, investigators staking out the slaughterhouse saw the Scion driver leave for Seattle. According to the agent’s statement, other investigators saw the man deliver boxes of meat to two Seattle restaurants.

Two days later, an undercover USDA investigator entered the slaughterhouse posing as a customer. Inside the barn, he found three holding pens surrounding a killing floor.

“The live animals … can clearly see other animals being slaughtered,” the special agent said in court papers.

As the agent watched, two sheep screamed as the main butcher bled them using a dull knife, according to court papers. Both were pregnant.

Federal law requires that livestock be killed quickly and with minimal pain. Slaughterhouse workers must kill animals with a single blow or gunshot to the head, or by using fast-acting electrical shocks or chemicals. Rituals involving animal sacrifice may be conducted so long as the animal is bled quickly.

The agent described the floor as being “filthy with blood, feces, and ingesta.” Four or five workers were joined there by four customers.

According to the agent’s statement, workers were using a dirty band saw to break apart freshly killed animals. Ducks wandering through the barn were eating scraps dropped from the saw.

The agent approached the lead butcher and ordered parts of two sheep as well as intestines. He told the man he planned to make a Kenyan tripe stew called matumbo.

On March 19, the agent returned to the slaughterhouse wearing a hidden camera and microphone. According to court papers, the agent bought a cow’s head for $50, as well as half of a sheep for $30.

Investigators searched the property on March 24 after obtaining a federal warrant. They seized documentation related to the operation.

The slaughterhouse operators are suspected of distributing uninspected meat and related crimes. Investigators don’t appear to have seized animals or meat from the site.

Seattlepi.com reporter Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.