Cargill announced that it has begun implementing a third-party, 24/7 video auditing programme at its US beef harvesting plants to further enhance the company's animal welfare protection systems.

All of Cargill's US beef harvesting plants will have the programme in place by the end of 2009.

Developed and managed by Arrowsight, in collaboration with Dr. Temple Grandin, one of the industry's experts on animal welfare, the programme is designed to help plant operators teach and monitor performance in animal handling.

"This additional investment gives us the objective input we need to effectively train our people and improve our processes," said Cargill Beef President John Keating.

Besides implementing the remote video auditing service, Cargill has created an industry-leading, humane animal-handling training and certification programme for employees.