The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) has revoked the license of a slaughterhouse it says has repeatedly failed health inspections. Rickson Vilog, also known as Vilog LLC, of Auburn, WA, was notified of the decision to revoke its license last week after inspectors found continued sanitation violations at the facility, said WSDA. The custom slaughter facility’s violations included unsanitary conditions, poor employee sanitation practices and failure to protect foods from contamination, according to the agency. In addition to revoking Vilog’s license, WSDA has also fined the company $6,000. Custom slaughter facilities such as Vilog slaughter animals for farmers, livestock owners and people who want to have their meat processed according to religious practices. As part of its services, Vilog offered slaughtering of goats, sheep, swine and cattle. WSDA said Vilog had failed to improve violations over the course of several inspections, the most recent of which was in October. At that time, health inspectors “noted ongoing failures to meet sanitary meat processing conditions, including lack of refrigeration and improper carcass handling.” According to WSDA, the company was notified of the decision to revoke its license Nov. 5, and has 10 days to appeal the action and request the department to reconsider.
