Protecting Food. Empowering Whistleblowers.

Food Integrity Campaign Blog

Food Poisoning Bulletin: USDA Whistleblower Speaks Out Against Idaho’s Ag Gag Law

March 4, 2014

Dr. Daryl Jacobs, a USDA whistleblower from Idaho, has spoken out against that state’s ag gag law, which was signed by the governor last week. He has made a statement to Food Integrity Campaign about why undercover videos are needed to protect animals and to keep the food supply safe. He said, “as a former […]

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Consumer Reports: The high cost of cheap chicken

January 1, 2014

Below is from Section 6: Taking animals off drugs. See the full report here. Most chicken raised in the U.S. today comes from large-scale commercial farms optimized to produce the most meat at the lowest cost. To meet domestic and global demand, the industry slaughters almost 9 billion chickens a year. A new USDA rule […]

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Honolulu Civil Beat: Biotech’s Influence on Hawaii Government Under Scrutiny

December 19, 2013

The Government Accountability Project is probing whether biotech companies exerted improper influence over Hawaii government officials while the Kauai County Council debated GMO and pesticide disclosure legislation this year. The Washington D.C.-based government watchdog group has submitted several information requests to Hawaii state and county officials asking them to disclose meetings and communications with biotech […]

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Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: “Ag-gag” efforts face setbacks in 2013

September 18, 2013

By JEFF ZALESIN For years, opponents of so-called ag-gag legislation across the country have been saying that it is unconstitutional to pass laws aimed at restricting hidden-camera reporting on factory farms. Soon, they’ll tell it to a federal judge in Utah. A coalition of journalists and animal-rights activists, led by the Animal Legal Defense Fund […]

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Grist: Replacing poultry inspectors with factory workers might not be greatest idea, says GAO

September 6, 2013

By John Upton Let’s hope this chicken was inspected by a government worker. Who would you rather have check factory chickens for signs of illness and smears of crap — a USDA inspector or a factory employee? The U.S. Department of Agriculture has long stationed its own inspectors along factory lines at poultry plants. But […]

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New York Times – Changes to Poultry Rules Are Flawed, Report Says

September 5, 2013

by Ron Nixon WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department’s plan to change its poultry inspection procedures relied on incomplete and antiquated data, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office released on Wednesday. The new rules will allow workers at plants, rather than agency inspectors, to examine birds on processing lines for blemishes or […]

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Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Playing Chicken on Food Safety?

August 5, 2013

by Tim Eberly One-third of a second. That’s how long a federal inspector will have to examine slaughtered chickens for contaminants and disease under new rules proposed by the federal government. The proposal would speed up production lines as much as 25 percent. It also would pull most federal inspectors off the lines and replace […]

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Kansas City Star – Animal Abuse Persists at Some Slaughter Plants

June 28, 2013

by Mike McGraw The meat industry has been scandalized in recent years by undercover videos showing horrific abuse of farm animals on their way to slaughter: workers kicking piglets like volleyballs, skinning veal calves alive and ramming a forklift into a sick cow. The videos prompted commitments to improve enforcement of a 55-year-old federal law […]

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Mother Jones – Gagged by Big Ag

June 17, 2013

by Ted Genoways Shawn Lyons was dead to rights—and he knew it. More than a month had passed since People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had released a video of savage mistreatment at the MowMar Farms hog confinement facility where he worked as an entry-level herdsman in the breeding room. The three enormous sow […]

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Washington Post – At Chicken Plants, Chemicals Blamed for Health Ailments are Poised to Proliferate

April 25, 2013

by Kimberly Kindy When Jose Navarro landed a job as a federal poultry inspector in 2006, he moved his wife and newborn son to a rural town in Upstate New York near the processing plant, believing it was a steppingstone to a better life. Five years later, Navarro was dead. The 37-year-old’s lungs had bled […]

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