The pigs are not all right.

An undercover video taken at one of the nation’s largest pork producers shows pigs being dragged across the floor, beaten with paddles and sick to the point of immobility. By law, pigs are supposed to be rendered unconscious before being killed, but many are shown writhing in apparent pain while bleeding out, suggesting that they weren’t properly stunned. “That one was definitely alive,” a worker says.

The video also appears to show pigs with puss-filled abscesses being sent down the line. Others are covered in feces.

“If the USDA is around, they could shut us down,” says a worker on the production line.

The graphic video – available on YouTube in an edited form – was covertly filmed by a contracted employee of Compassion over Killing, a nonprofit animal rights group that claims to have infiltrated an Austin, Minnesota, facility run by Quality Pork Processors, a supplier of Hormel Foods, the maker of Spam. The group has turned over the 97-minute unedited video to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has raised serious concerns about the conditions at the QPP facility and pledged a thorough investigation.

“The actions depicted in the video under review are appalling and completely unacceptable, and if we can verify the video’s authenticity, we will aggressively investigate the case and take appropriate action,” said USDA spokesperson Adam Tarr.

QPP, which has seen both the edited and unedited versions, says the edited film makes it look like there were violations when in fact there were none.

“Early on, there may very well be contamination present in the process, but we have multiple interventions that ensure that it will not only be visually removed, but completely removed,” said Nate Jansen, who is the vice president of human resources and quality services at QPP.

“Had it been allowed to show the entire sequence of these events, all of these hogs were all handled appropriately.”

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