Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.
For Immediate Release:
February 25, 2019
Government Accountability Project Files Whistleblower Complaint in Federal Court Against Kraft-Heinz Foods
Whistleblower Alleges Retaliation Following Chemical Mix-up in Food
SOUTH CAROLINA – Friday, February 22, Government Accountability Project filed suit against Kraft-Heinz Foods on behalf of whistleblower, Dr. David Glover, in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina Greenwood Division.
Dr. David Glover was a sanitation manager at the Heinz-Kraft poultry processing plant in Newberry, South Carolina from 2015 until 2017. After discovering that 5 million pounds of poultry products were contaminated with a cleaning solution, Dr. Glover first tried to reported the adulteration internally through the Heinz ethics hotline, and to the state Department of Agriculture, and to the USDA. However, Dr. Glover was scapegoated for the chemical mishap and terminated in retaliation for alerting officials. In their complaint, Government Accountability Project asserted that Dr. Glover’s whistleblower claim is covered under the Food Safety Modernization Act.
Of the suit, one of Dr. Glover’s representatives, Amanda Hitt, director of Government Accountability Project’s Public Health program and Food Integrity Campaign, said, “This is about the safety and quality of your Thanksgiving turkey, your kid’s school lunch, your ‘healthy’ alternative to ground beef. With our food becoming increasingly less regulated, we need our company employees to safely stand up on consumers’ behalf. That’s just not happening as it should and that’s why these whistleblower laws exist. We hope our client receives the full benefit of his anti-retaliation protections.”
Contact: Amanda Hitt, Director of Public Health and the Food Integrity Campaign
Email: amandah@whistleblower.org
Phone: (202) 457-0034 ext. 159
Government Accountability Project
Government Accountability Project is the nation’s leading whistleblower protection organization. Through litigating whistleblower cases, publicizing concerns and developing legal reforms, Government Accountability Project’s mission is to protect the public interest by promoting government and corporate accountability. Founded in 1977, Government Accountability Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C
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