Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
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 […]
More voices have come out against Idaho’s Ag Gag bill as attention on the state increases. First, Chobani has issued a statement against the anti-whistleblower legislation. Now, a USDA whistleblower from Idaho, Dr. Daryl Jacobs – who has witnessed many abuses on dairy farms in the state – has come forward to FIC with his […]
A huge development has emerged as food integrity supporters continue to monitor Idaho’s potential passing of its anti-whistleblower Ag Gag bill. As the legislation reached Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter’s desk for approval yesterday (after both state houses passed the controversial measure), FIC and our coalition partners decided to put pressure on yogurt company Chobani […]
Idaho has a $2.5 billion dairy industry … with a lot to hide, apparently. The state Senate passed Idaho’s anti-whistleblower Ag Gag bill (S.1337) last Friday, which would make it a crime to photograph or videotape wrongdoing on a farm. The state has a history of enacting laws that make it easier for CAFOs (concentrated […]
According to a 2014 Harris Poll, 73 percent of Americans think there should be more government oversight of the food supply. Someone should alert the USDA, since the agency is proposing the exact opposite: the removal of government inspectors in poultry plants and transferring their duties to private industry workers (who are not empowered to speak […]
Several biotech/pesticide companies kept their word by filing a lawsuit on Friday against the County of Kauai to block implementation of the recently passed pesticide disclosure bill (now Ordinance 960). This news is very disappointing, but not entirely surprising, as the industry shows where its real priorities lie – certainly not with public health. FIC […]
We already got a taste of it last year, but according to Food Safety News, Big Ag has revamped its legislative strategy for 2014 when it comes to silencing whistleblowers. As evidenced by the defeat of all 11 anti-whistleblower Ag Gag bills in 2013, it’s clear that the states won’t allow the animal agriculture industry […]
Below is from Section 6: Taking animals off drugs. See the full report here. Most chicken raised in the U.S. today comes from large-scale commercial farms optimized to produce the most meat at the lowest cost. To meet domestic and global demand, the industry slaughters almost 9 billion chickens a year. A new USDA rule […]
(LIHUE) – The Government Accountability Project (GAP) submitted several information requests to Hawaii state and county officials about meetings and communications with large biotech companies during the debate over Kauai’s pesticide and disclosure legislation, Bill 2491. The bill, now law, requires biotech companies to disclose pesticide use information and establish buffer zones between their fields […]