For what it's worth...

Upon information and belief, the following post recently appeared on a blog called "The Meatingplace" at www.meatingplace.com:

Animal Agriculture Alliance recently sent out a press release expressing their concern over the fact that the undercover activists that participate in animal abuse rather than immediately reporting it to management are not held accountable. They certainly do have a point!

To quote their release "As these videos achieve the publicity sought by the groups, the Alliance is concerned that the activist employees providing the tapes are not held accountable for their failure to follow company animal care policies and their failure to immediately report mistreatment to the farm owners or managers."

In the past, I have supported video cameras in the live handling areas of poultry processing plants to document handling. If there is a long history of proper animal handling a single incident reported by an activist group could be easily rebutted. There are egg companies doing just this and even using a third party to archive and evaluate the videos, thus removing any hint of tampering. I don't think that is necessary although, it has merit. I do think you could simply use time stamped video as proof.

With digital media and the abundance of camera types and prices available today, cost is not a big factor. As for the discomfort of people working in the area, it is for their protection. In addition, we have all become accustomed to seeing signs at the bank, the convenience store and shopping malls telling us that we are being taped. Big brother has been here for quite a while now. Let's use this technology to our advantage and eliminate the advantage of the activists.

Please note that you need to be a member of the blog in order to sign in and actually read the posts, so I can't independently confirm either the post or the authenticity of the contents. Just passing it along at face value...