• New hidden camera footage has been captured at a Victorian slaughterhouse, which has been previously exposed twice for animal cruelty.
• The footage, captured this year by Farm Transparency Project, shows sheep and goats being beaten and thrown by workers, as well as having their throats slit while fully conscious.
• MD Foods (formerly Riverside Meats) reopened in 2021, three years after shutting down. A 2016 investigation revealing significant animal cruelty had led to a mandated installation of CCTV to monitor slaughter.

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Animal advocacy organisation Farm Transparency Project has released new hidden camera footage, taken during a covert investigation by the group earlier this year. 

The footage was captured at MD Foods Australia, an export-accredited, multi-species slaughterhouse in Echuca, on the border of NSW and Victoria. It shows the stunning and slaughter of hundreds of sheep and goats. The footage shows workers roughly throwing sheep and goats to the ground while herding them into the narrow restraint. Many sheep and goats fall into the kill room while fully conscious and are seen struggling and resisting as their throats are slit by workers. 

Previously known as Riverside Meats, this slaughterhouse was reported to authorities twice in 2013 and 2016, with footage shared by animal advocacy groups at the time showing similar acts of violence and abuse. Representatives from Farm Transparency Project say that they are aware of recent complaints made about the facility, with members of the public reporting them to both Victorian regulator PrimeSafe and the Environmental Protection Agency. 

Founding director of Farm Transparency Project, Chris Delforce, says that he was not surprised that the slaughterhouse hasn’t improved its practices in the past decade.

“Most people would be shocked and horrified to see this footage of animals struggling and fighting for their lives as they are violently killed. But the reality is, this is what it looks like inside every slaughterhouse in Australia. This horror show is not an aberration, it is the standard we have accepted for how we treat animals in this country.”

“Right now, Victoria is discussing new animal protection laws which acknowledge for the first time that animals are living, feeling, sentient beings. We cannot accept this while simultaneously turning a blind eye to the suffering of millions of animals in Australian farms and slaughterhouses. If our government were serious about animal welfare they would shut these places down for good.”

Farm Transparency Project says that they have reported this facility to the Federal Department of Agriculture for the multiple breaches of state and federal regulations captured on their hidden cameras. 

“We’ve reported this facility to the relevant authorities, as we have for the other 17 slaughterhouses we have exposed since March last year. We hope that this time the government chooses to intervene and stop this abuse, rather than allowing themselves to be scared into silence by the small but powerful industry lobbying groups who profit from animal cruelty.”