An international food standards committee of the United Nations and World Health Organization has called for a scientific risk assessment of botulism spores in powdered infant formulas as a result of the U.S. outbreak linked to ByHeart products.
The topic of whistleblowers and whistleblower rights may seem like a niche or technical concept, but it actually greatly impacts you. If you don’t know how whistleblowers protect you every day, here are some questions to think about.
It's flu season, and avian influenza is among the concerns on large animal feeding operations. North Carolina has some of the country's largest concentrations of confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, in the turkey, chicken and hog industries. In November, a man in Washington state became the first to die from contracting the H5N5 bird flu strain in humans, illustrating the virus's risk.
The Biden administration made historic progress to protect producers from meat company abuse. Amid the first meat industry attempt to roll that back, no one knows where Trump’s USDA will stand.
In a late-night email on January 25, President Trump unlawfully fired 17 independent Inspector Generals (IG) from agencies including the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, and State Department, with an additional firing of the US Agency for International Development Office of Inspector General (OIG) weeks later. The event was dubbed by the media as the “Midnight Purge.”
Today, in a landmark victory for due process, the Eastern District of North Carolina denied Perdue Farms Inc.’s motions for a preliminary injunction attempting to halt on-going proceedings in a system designed to level the playing field between individual whistleblowers and the better-resourced corporations they challenge.
"Perdue can't block the U.S. Department of Labor's administrative proceeding for whistleblower complaints, a North Carolina federal judge has concluded, saying the chicken producer failed to show why the proceedings should be stopped urgently."
US District Judge Terrence Boyle issued an order Tuesday denying Perdue’s motion for an injunction against the US Department of Labor and poultry farmer Craig Watts. Boyle’s order also applies to a similar case involving Rudy Howell, a second Robeson County poultry farmer.
Large poultry companies, such as Perdue Farms, pay growers based on a “tournament system.” Farmers who fatten their chickens most efficiently are paid the best. Those who struggle to fatten their birds have their pay docked. But a federal rule finalized this month will provide some financial stability and transparency to thousands of farmers who raise broiler chickens across the state, said Melanie Canales, a project manager for RAFI-USA, a North Carolina-based nonprofit that advocates for farmers.
Today, Government Accountability Project, representing whistleblower Craig Watts, joined the Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in a hearing concerning Perdue Farms Inc.’s federal lawsuit to block further proceedings in DOL’s Office of Administration Law Judges (DOL OALJ).
1612 K St. NW, Suite #808
Washington DC, 20006
