Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
Protections Cover Workers in Industries Regulated by FDA; GAP Calls for Similar Rights for Federal Workers to be Passed (Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) is praising Congress for passing the most comprehensive whistleblower protections for food industry workers in history. A provision in the Food Safety Modernization Act, passed today by […]
Navigating the regulatory maze that is our food system can be quite a task, especially figuring out who monitors what and various agencies’ process for enforcing rules. But when it comes to food additives, that’s the FDA’s business. Caffeine has become hit news lately, particularly its dangerous effects when mixed with alcohol. The agency’s recent […]
FIC is coming down from a mile high! Last week I was in Denver, Colorado at the 138th American Public Health Association Convention. Over 12,000 nurses, doctors, and those concerned with public health, converged to participate in this year’s APHA Convention themed “Social Justice: A Public Health Imperative.” Without a doubt, social justice is an […]
Government Accountability Project mourns the passing of our client, Dr. Dean Wyatt, who succumbed to brain cancer on November 11, 2010 at the age of 59. Dr. Wyatt came to Government Accountability Project roughly three years ago for legal assistance. During the course of our representation, we came to know Dr. Wyatt not only as […]
An insightful piece by former GAP client John Munsell was posted on Food Safety News, spotlighting significant shortcomings in the USDA’s deregulated meat inspection program, and its unfortunate capacity to suppress whistleblower concerns and compromise the integrity of our food supply. A noted whistleblower himself, Munsell ran a USDA-inspected meat plant for 34 years, and […]
One year ago this Saturday, USDA public health veterinarian and whistleblower Dr. Dean Wyatt was vindicated for slaughterhouse humane handling complaints he had brought up repeatedly since 2007, but were ignored by his superiors. That was the day that the Humane Society of the United States released undercover footage of horrific animal abuses (including excessive […]
Unionization in the food sector means giving workers a voice that will ensure the integrity of what ends up on our dinner plates. But our country has never seen a union for the fast-food industry. We may soon witness history, after employees of 10 Minneapolis Jimmy John’s sandwich shops vote on the issue Friday. Fast-food […]
The role of a whistleblower already brings with it many intense challenges: possible job loss, drop in income, broken relationships, etc. But what if these brave souls were also seen as criminals in the eyes of many? To have a voice at all is a potential risk – let alone speaking out against the system […]
A recent survey conducted by market research organization Mintel shows that 64 percent of American consumers (who responded to the survey) believe that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is “okay in moderation,” 35 percent say they “avoid HFCS as an ingredient,” and 46 percent cite “not enough info to know whether it’s harmful or not.” […]
Saying that American food safety would improve if federal employees serving the food system had strong whistleblower protections – allowing them to reveal agency violations – seems like common sense if you ask me. Thanks to GAP coalition partner Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), a new survey of USDA and FDA employees confirms this belief. […]