In advertisements, cows are always happy, grazing in meadows, giving milk to cheerful children. In reality, the farming of these gentle animals conceals atrocious practices, such as the slaughter of so-called "downer cows".

This is the term used for older cows which, after a lifetime spent giving birth to calves in order to produce milk for our consumption, are no longer able to sustain this "career" and are therefore destined for the slaughterhouse. At this stage the animals are weak, exhausted and cannot even get to their feet, hence the name. Despite it being illegal, the cows are pushed, dragged by a chain or a rope tied to one or two legs, loaded using mechanical equipment such as tractor shovels, harnessed and unloaded from lorries with the aid of hoists, winches and other means.

This practice, in even more chilling forms, was found at the Italcarni slaughterhouse in Ghedi, in the province of Brescia. Thanks to hidden cameras installed at the behest of deputy prosecutor Ambrogio Cassiani, already known for having pursued the Green Hill case, the Brescia prosecutor's office, the Nas of Cremona and the Forestry Guard launched an investigation that led to the seizure of the slaughtering company.

The footage makes your skin crawl: it shows animals arriving at the facility's gates already dead, and the abuse inflicted on those still alive — cattle in their death throes dragged across the floor on chains, cows beaten with sticks or lifted bodily by the mechanical arms of forklifts, and in some cases even impaled.

The atrocities inflicted on the animals are not the only charge: some meat samples are reported to have contained bacterial concentrations up to 50 times higher than those permitted by law, including salmonella.

The people currently under investigation number six: the company owner, three employees and two local health authority vets, charged with animal cruelty, adulteration of meat intended for human consumption, forgery of a public document, food fraud and illegal waste disposal.

"The abuses of ultra-intensive farming have already been put on trial in many courts across our country," declared Roberto Bennati, vice-president of Lav. "After the scandal over the trade in drugs and illegal doping and serious violations in slaughtering, this seizure confirms that this is an absolutely unacceptable supply chain, where illegality is rife. The effects on animals are extremely serious — genuine genetic and pharmacological abuse, with possible harm to human health as well."