Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
New Law Threatens Whistleblowers Vital to Protecting Worker, Animal Rights WASHINGTON – Yesterday afternoon, the Arkansas state government passed into law HB 1665, a bill designed to discourage whistleblowers from making public disclosures about food, worker, and animal safety at industrial agriculture facilities, under the guise of protecting property. This law severely restricts the rights […]
Video Exposes Habitual Animal Abuse by One of Nation’s Leading Pork Processors, Reinforces Enduring Value of Whistleblowers WASHINGTON – Today, Hormel Foods Corp. announced it is launching an investigation into rampant animal abuse at one of its pork plants in Oklahoma after an undercover video, made public by the animal rights group Mercy for Animals, […]
GAP’S Food Integrity Campaign Praises USDA for Common-Sense First Steps to Protect Contract Farmers WASHINGTON – Today, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released three highly anticipated Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rules, two interim and one final, which are currently open for public comment. The proposed regulations seek to protect contract farmers […]
WASHINGTON – The Government Accountability Project’s (GAP) Food Integrity Campaign filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Friday. The appeal seeks to uphold the U.S. District Court of Idaho’s August 2015 decision, which struck down Idaho’s controversial Ag Gag law. GAP submits that by criminalizing the taking of undercover […]
(Washington, DC) – Government Accountability Project (GAP) client and contract chicken farmer Eric Hedrick delivered more than 60,000 petition signatures to Capitol Hill yesterday as part of an effort to shed light on the poultry industry’s abusive practices. The largest single-owner producer in West Virginia, Eric has been a contract grower for Pilgrim’s Pride (the […]
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 […]
(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 […]
(WASHINGTON) – Perdue contract farmer Rudy Howell has collected more than 70,000 petition signatures urging Congress to ensure protections for poultry farmers who face reprisal for speaking out. The Food Integrity Campaign (FIC, a program of the Government Accountability Project) is backing Howell’s petition, which stems from industry-wide reports of retaliation against contract farmers who […]
(Washington, DC) – Today, the Food Integrity Campaign (FIC, a program of the Government Accountability Project) filed a whistleblower retaliation complaint on behalf of its client, Perdue contract farmer Craig Watts. Mr. Watts alleges that the poultry company initiated intimidation tactics against Watts after he publicized animal welfare concerns. This is an historic event, the […]
(Washington, DC) – Today, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) is releasing evidence it has gathered from federal meat inspector whistleblowers who currently work at pork processing plants participating in a high-speed inspection pilot program. These whistleblowers voice concerns regarding the program and warn about the potential public health implications if this plan is instituted on […]