Hog slaughter has resumed at Excel Corp’s Illinois pork plant after being temporarily suspended on Wednesday due to violations of the Humane Slaughter Act.

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The US Department of Agriculture gave the go-ahead for the plant to resume operation after the company submitted a plan to correct recent hog-handling problems.

Steve Cohen, spokesman for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said officials suspended slaughtering operations at the plant because of “several violations of the Humane Slaughter Act over a period of a couple of weeks,” reported Reuters.

The act covers the slaughter and handling of livestock, including the movement and unloading of animals.

A local newspaper, the Cass County Star-Gazette, recently reported that around 1,100 hogs died in hot weather while waiting to be unloaded at the Beardstown, Illinois plant.

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Excel Corp is a unit of US agribusiness giant Cargill.

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