Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
Have you ever seen something wrong in the workplace and felt like you should speak up? Everyday people witness waste, fraud, and abuses of power in the workplace but are unsure what to do about it. The stakes are high. Making the ethical decision can be hard when blowing the whistle can be a career-ending […]
Empowering whistleblowers who are on the front lines of the food supply is the best way to keep the system transparent and wrongdoers accountable. But until a culture is created in which blowing the whistle is expected and rewarded, the dire situation of secrecy and repeat violations without accountability that currently exists will only continue. […]
Animal agriculture is one of the top contributors to our most serious environmental problems, producing 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. FIC works with whistleblowers who reveal horrific stories of contamination due to routine factory farm practices. Just last week, the Environmental Protection Agency fined a meat processing plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania $40,000 […]
By BILL KNIGHT As recently reported, Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea killed millions of piglets in 27 states this year. Possibly originating in China, Iowa farmers were hurt the worst. But if something like that happened to be uncovered by Iowa whistleblowers, the whistleblowers could be prosecuted. In some states, E coli, salmonella and a whole host […]
Thus far, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has failed to acknowledge the concerns of USDA poultry inspectors regarding his agency’s proposal to increase line speeds and privatize inspection at processing plants. The USDA Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), despite being the public health arm of the agency, seems to be promoting industry profit, as corporations stand […]
BY BILL KNIGHT As recently reported, Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea killed millions of piglets in 27 states this year. Possibly originating in China, Iowa farmers were hurt the worst. But if something like that happened to be uncovered by Iowa whistleblowers, the whistleblowers could be prosecuted. In some states, E coli, salmonella and a whole host […]
Last year, Tennessee was the only state whose legislature passed an Ag Gag bill aimed at silencing whistleblowers who expose abuse on industrial farms. Ten other states introduced similar measures, but each bill ultimately died in state legislatures. FIC was part of a strong campaign against these terrible pieces of legislation, and after a groundswell […]
Is USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack so desperate to push his poultry inspection plan forward that he’ll try to find evidence supporting it where there is none? Many poultry industry whistleblowers have told FIC that the USDA’s plan, including the increase of already-too-fast line speeds at poultry processing plants, is a threat to public and worker […]
Last month, Idaho became the first state to pass an anti-whistleblower Ag Gag bill since 2012, a disappointing blow. But transparency in the state (already known for its history of anti-transparency legislation) isn’t going down without a fight! A group of organizations and journalists filed a lawsuit this week to overturn the law, which criminalizes […]
Dr. Daryl Jacobs, a USDA whistleblower from Idaho, has spoken out against that state’s ag gag law, which was signed by the governor last week. He has made a statement to Food Integrity Campaign about why undercover videos are needed to protect animals and to keep the food supply safe. He said, “as a former […]