Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
Let’s just be clear about this. The new pork inspection model is not about modernization; it’s about privatization. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety, Alfred Almanza, seems to have a lot to say about modernizing the USDA’s inspection system lately. From what I’ve read, it appears that Mr. Almanza intends to expand a […]
The latest in Ag Gag news is certainly a win for transparency advocates. Just three weeks after being introduced in January 2016, Tennessee’s Ag Gag bill has died in the state’s legislature. This is good news for food integrity supporters, and for all those who demand accountability across all corporate sectors. This latest version of […]
By Craig Jarvis A coalition of national interest groups sued in federal court in North Carolina on Wednesday to strike down a new law meant to stop people from taking jobs in order to expose workplace conditions. The law, which took effect on Jan. 1, was the result of unsuccessful efforts to pass an “ag-gag” […]
The Government Accountability Project (GAP), along with a coalition of watchdog organizations, filed a federal lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s harmful anti-whistleblower legislation. The state’s law, which aims to punish those who conduct undercover investigations of any private entity in North Carolina, is one of the most appalling overt attempts to silence whistleblowers in GAP’s 38-year […]
Raleigh, N.C. – A coalition of animal protection, consumer rights, food safety, and whistleblower protection organizations filed a federal lawsuit today challenging the constitutionality of a North Carolina law designed to deter whistleblowers and undercover investigators from publicizing information about corporate misconduct. The state legislature overrode a veto of the bill by Governor Pat McCrory […]
People serving turkey this week for Thanksgiving dinner should know what’s happening with U.S. poultry. While we continue to challenge Hormel and its participation in USDA’s high-speed pork inspection pilot program, the agency’s corresponding program for poultry plants has already gone into effect (despite hundreds of thousands of petitioners and the agency’s own inspectors opposing […]
By Roberto A. Ferdman The pigs are not all right. An undercover video taken at one of the nation’s largest pork producers shows pigs being dragged across the floor, beaten with paddles, and sick to the point of immobility. By law, pigs are supposed to be rendered unconscious before being killed, but many are shown […]
(Austin, MN) – In light of newly released undercover video footage taken at a Hormel plant, two former USDA inspectors have come forward to speak about the food safety issues they have witnessed at Hormel’s largest high-speed processing plant. The whistleblowers each originally submitted affidavits (one anonymously) about their concerns to the Government Accountability Project […]
Hormel can’t hide from the spotlight any longer. The top pork producer’s high-speed processing plant in Austin, Minnesota is facing some serious finger wagging by food integrity advocates across the spectrum. On the one hand, Compassion Over Killing has released undercover video footage that raises animal welfare concerns at the plant. On the other, former […]
This week marks the fifth anniversary of the passing of Dr. Dean Wyatt, a former Government Accountability Project (GAP) client who blew the whistle on violations of humane handling and food safety regulations in Oklahoma and Vermont slaughter plants. His story is an important one to tell because it illustrates the trap that federal whistleblowers […]