Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.

Food Integrity Campaign Blog

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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Politico: WHISTLEBLOWER REPORT ATTACKS USDA PILOT AT HORMEL PLANTS

February 2, 2015

by CHASE PURDY Increased line speeds and fewer federal inspectors are a cause for concern at three Hormel pork processing plants participating in a USDA inspection pilot project, says the Government Accountability Project. Four USDA inspectors have come forward to complain about conditions in those plants. “We went from having seven inspectors assigned to the […]

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Hormel: Stop High-Speed Hog Slaughter

Alyssa Doom | February 2, 2015

FIC is launching a campaign to demand that Hormel Foods withdraw from a dangerous pilot model for hog inspection. We are asking the company to show consumers that they are willing to put public health over profit! You may have heard that USDA passed a new inspection model for the poultry industry. The program was […]

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Reuters: U.S. Pork Plant Program Draws Criticism, Hormel Petition

January 30, 2015

By CAREY GILLAM Processing lines at some U.S. hog slaughterhouses are moving too fast for inspectors to adequately address contamination and food safety concerns, according to an advocacy group that says it has obtained affidavits from four government meat inspectors. In the affidavits, released Friday by the Government Accountability Project, a “whistle-blower protection” organization, the […]

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Inspectors Warn Against USDA’s High-Speed Hog Inspection Program

Food Integrity Campaign | January 30, 2015

(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 […]

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