Midwestern Pet Foods, Inc.

On May 20, 2025, an employee was in a one-person aerial lift to take an environmental swab near an exhaust fan mounted in an exterior wall approximately 15 feet high. As they were taking the sample, the swab was pulled into the fan along with the employee's right hand, resulting in amputations of the thumb and the index and middle fingers.

On June 21, 2024, a maintenance employee was setting up a palletizing machine preparing for the plant to resume production following a planned shutdown. The employee attempted to correct the machine's location by kicking it into position. The employee lost their balance and fell to the floor, fracturing their pelvis. The employee was hospitalized.

At 2:06 a.m. on February 3, 2023, an employee was cleaning an extruder system. The employee accessed the second-level work platform to open the lids to access the auger screw used to transfer raw food to the food conditioner. As the employee was using a water hose to clean the auger, their left hand slipped from the auger's housing and into the auger opening. The auger amputated four of the employee's fingers below the first knuckle and the employee was hospitalized.

An employee was guiding a forklift operator through the warehouse with a work platform when the work platform became caught on a pallet of animal food and slid off of the forks of the forklift and on top of the employee. The employee suffered a dislocated left shoulder and possible shoulder fracture.

An employee was inspecting a generator whose radiator was leaking. He slipped, and a fan blade in the generator amputated his thumb and index finger.

A temporary employee turned off a planer machine, opened the housing, and began clearing a jam. The machine's spinning blade caught his right hand and degloved the index finger.

An employee was using a tool to remove a rag from a roll on the tube mill. The roll pulled the tool and the employee's right hand into the roll, resulting in a partial amputation of the little finger and a fracture to the index finger.

A casting machine jammed. An employee's hand was caught in the machine, where a belt line caught and amputated the tip of his finger.

A production sanitation employee was pre-rinsing an incline conveyor and noticed cheese stuck between the belt idler. The employee went to remove the cheese and their glove got caught and pulled their left forearm into the conveyor. The employee's arm was fractured. The machine was not locked out/tagged out at the time.

An employee was working to remove a spatula that got stuck in an auger at the bottom of a hopper. The employee went to remove the face plate to help release the spatula. His fingers were in the holes to pull off the face plate when the machine actuated. His right middle finger got trapped between the face plate and the inner plate, resulting in amputation.

An employee was walking in a parking lot during break when they were struck by a vehicle, resulting in fractures to their left scapula and lower right leg.

An employee bent down to turn on an air valve, lost their footing, and struck their hand on a pressure relief valve while trying to catch themselves. The employee suffered an amputation to their right index fingertip.

An employee was working on a production line, packaging chews for animals. She retrieved a fallen cap for another production line from the floor and went to put in back in the machine it had fallen from (a capper). The machine caught the tip of her left little finger, causing a fingertip amputation.

An employee was taking apart the piping to a meat pump for clean-up. He saw food debris inside the pump housing and went to remove it. The meat pump rotor caught and severed his right index and middle fingertips, resulting in partial fingertip amputations.

An employee was helping to move a 1,300-pound coil on a cart. The steel caster hit a crack in the concrete, the weld holding the caster onto the cart broke, and the coil and cart tipped over onto the employee. He was hospitalized with a laceration on his forehead and a pelvic fracture on his right side.

An employee was working in the food service warehouse when he experienced chest pain, difficulty breathing, and lost consciousness. The employee sustained carbon monoxide poisoning.

An employee was cutting a piece of metal rod with a metal cutting machine. His right middle finger became caught between the rod and the machine's table. The employee's fingertip was partially amputated.

An employee was working at her desk. She went to stand up and fell to the floor beside the desk. The employee sustained a hip displacement and required surgery.

An employee was processing wood boards at a chop saw when the saw malfunctioned and the blade cut her left hand and fingers. She was hospitalized and her little finger was surgically amputated.