Moonfleet Poultry Inc. of Harriston persuaded the Canadian Agriculture Review Tribunal to cancel a $10,000 penalty the Canadian Food inspection Agency said it intended to issue against the company.
Testimony indicated that about 182 chickens were dead on arrival at a Cargill processing plant about an hour after 3,462 chickens were loaded at a farm near Tavistock.
Because it was hot, a third of the crates on the Moonfleet truck were left empty.
The CFIA veterinarian blamed the hot weather for the death of the chickens and accused the company of inhumane treatment.
But two other veterinarians, one of them at the Cargill plant, said the primary cause of death was chronic long-term heart conditions and viral challenges which were exacerbated by heat stress.
Geneviève Parent decided that the CFIA failed to establish, on a balance of probabilities, that the birds that Moonfleet loaded were likely to suffer, sustain an injury, or die due to inadequate ventilation or by being exposed to meteorological or environmental conditions. The violation is not established.
It is the third case this year that Moonfleet has earned either a reduced penalty or cancellation of a CFIA fine after appealing to the tribunal.
