Plant investigated for illnesses receives safety award

A pork processing plant in Austin, Minn., that's seen several cases of mysterious illnesses among its workers has won a workplace safety award.

Quality Pork Processors is one of 41 winners of the Award of Honor from the American Meat Institute. It's the highest category among the institute's three levels of worker safety recognition awards. The industry group honored 121 plants in all.

The awards are based on a point system developed by the National Safety Council, which reviews each plant's award application. An institute spokesman says the awards measure the effectiveness of a plant's total health and safety program, not its response to a single situation.

More than a dozen workers who processed pig brains at the plant have developed neurological problems that investigators suspect are an autoimmune response to the tissue.