Swift Sold it Bad Hams, Company Says

SHELBYVILLE, Ky. (CN) - Swift & Co. made "several thousand" hams unfit for human consumption by its practice of dropping pig carcasses three stories before butchering, damaging bone and muscle, which promotes bacterial infections, Finchville Farms County Hams claims in Shelby County Court.

Finchville claims Swift's practice makes the hams unsuitable for Finchville's dry curing process.

Finchville claims: "Swift is in the practice, at least at its Louisville plant, of dropping its pig carcasses three stories before they are put on the 'cut-line' for butchering into various 'primary' cuts - including the cut commonly known as a 'ham.' This practice appears to have frequently resulted in bone breaks and/or disrupted muscle tissue, resulting in unsound hams. Thirty to forty percent of the hams delivered to Finchville Farms by Swift contained those sorts of disruptions to their internal structure."

Finchville is represented by R. Gregg Hovious of Louisville.

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