Yes, that’s a live cow being rolled by a forklift.

Video captured during the investigation of a leading California slaughterhouse shows “downed” cattle (animals too sick or injured to stand) being shocked repeatedly in their rectums, rolled by forklifts, jabbed in the eyes, and shot in the nose with high-intensity water sprays in an attempt to make them stand for inspection.

“These were not rogue employees secretly doing these things,” the investigator said in a telephone interview on the condition of anonymity because he hopes to infiltrate other slaughterhouses. “This is the pen manager and his assistant doing this right in the open.”

In addition to the blatant cruelty of using torture to try to make the animals stand, these efforts pose a serious public health crisis. At least 12 of the 15 documented cases of Mad Cow Disease in North America were reportedly in downed cattle. They have also often been laying in feces, which contributes to the risk of E. coli and salmonella contamination.

And where is this meat going? Why, to the school lunch program, of course:

Over the past five years, Westland has sold about 100 million pounds of frozen beef, valued at $146 million, to the Agriculture Department’s commodities program, which supplies food for school lunches and programs for the needy, according to federal documents.

A little more regulation of the meat industry may be in order, no?