Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.

FIC in the News

Heritage Radio: What Doesn’t Kill You – Hormel Goes HIMP

February 12, 2015

FIC Director Amanda Hitt speaks with Katy Keiffer on this episode of What Doesn’t Kill You about why Hormel’s participation in USDA’s high-speed hog inspection program is a “recipe for disaster.” Listen to the episode (46 minutes) here.

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Austin Daily Herald: Hormel called out over high-speed production; Meat inspectors say process more likely to cause contamination

February 11, 2015

By TREY MEWES Meat inspectors are speaking out against a high-speed pork production program used by several Hormel Foods Corp. factories. The Government Accountability Project released four affidavits from working and recently retired meat inspectors on Monday, all of whom denounced a Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points project for increasing the contamination in meat […]

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KAAL-TV: USDA Whistleblowers Raise Concerns Over Pork Plant Inspections

February 9, 2015

KAAL-TV, the ABC affiliate in Austin, Minnesota (where Hormel is headquartered) covered a television news story about USDA whistleblowers at Hormel pork plants raising concerns about high-speed hog inspection. The print version of the story is below. By DAN CONRADT A USDA pilot project is drawing criticism, and that criticism is being felt close to […]

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Daily Mail: Toenails, hair and fecal matter are finding their way into America’s pork according to USDA whistleblowers

February 5, 2015

by CHRISTOPHER BRENNAN Toenails, hair and fecal matter are finding their way into Americans’ pork under new, faster slaughterhouse regulations. Whistleblowers from inside the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have spoken out against a recent pilot program, saying they let harmful materials be passed on to consumers. They claim that fewer inspectors and higher […]

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New Republic: Whistleblower USDA Food Inspectors on Hormel’s Pork Plants: It’s “Just Nuts”

February 5, 2015

by TED GENOWAYS Four U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) meat inspectors, all working in slaughter operations owned or operated by the Hormel Foods Corporation, have come forward this week with shocking allegations in affidavits offered to the whistleblower protection organization Government Accountability Project (GAP). A government-run pilot program experimenting with a reduced inspection protocol in […]

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LA Weekly: New High-Speed Pork Inspection System May Not Be Stopping Contaminated Meat

February 5, 2015

by JENNY PETERS In love with bacon, pulled-pork BBQ and a lovely pork chop now and then? Then buyer beware, as some of the pig products coming to grocery butcher shelves and restaurant refrigerators may not be getting the proper inspection needed to prove they’re not contaminated with some pretty disgusting stuff. The Government Accountability […]

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Food Safety News: USDA Inspectors Condemn Hog Plant HIMP Model

February 5, 2015

Last Friday, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) released affidavits from four federal inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s high-speed inspection pilot program who have come forward with their concerns about the system. “Under the HIMP model, company inspectors take over the duties of USDA inspectors at the lymph node incision and head inspection stations,” […]

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The Dodo: USDA Inspectors Admit To Poop, Hair, Toenails In Factory Pork

February 4, 2015

by MELISSA CRONIN Add this to the lengthy list of problems created by America’s factory farming complex: poop, hair and toenails on your plate. Over the past few years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been trying out a new, faster way of inspecting the slaughter of hogs, known as the The Hazard Analysis […]

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VICE: Why a Chicken Farmer in North Carolina Exposed the Depressing Conditions on His Own Farm

February 3, 2015

by WYATT WILLIAMS On a cold December morning, Craig Watts met me in the driveway of the farmhouse that his great-grandfather had built in North Carolina more than a century ago. His family has been working on this land for much longer, perhaps hundreds of years, but as Watts led me into his house, it […]

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Salon: USDA pork inspectors speak out – “People are going to eat sh*t”

February 3, 2015

By LINDSAY ABRAMS If you preferred not to know what’s in your ham, bacon and Spam before, you’re really not going to want to know now. The USDA is piloting a new pork inspection program that features sped-up lines and a reduction in government inspectors — and its own inspectors are now speaking out publicly […]

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