Our Food Integrity Campaign (FIC) is officially under way. We hope you’ll visit our new FIC website and join our campaign to safeguard food integrity by facilitating truth-telling. In addition to providing litigation services for employees who speak out against safety or health violations, GAP’s Campaign brings their stifled concerns to the public eye as well as provides education outreach and advocacy efforts. The website profiles some of GAP’s prominent food integrity whistleblowers, serves as a hub of information for would-be whistleblowers and those interested in food integrity and whistleblower issues in general. It also provides useful information on what you can do to support food industry whistleblowers.
Along the journey that food takes from field to fork, problems arise every step of the way and we mean to expose them by fueling the voice of the voiceless. FIC believes that food industry whistleblowers are the first line of defense against foodborne illness and outbreaks—the employees that actually work at the food processing facilities, either for the company or as an inspector assigned by the government. Yet they go unheard. If they get up the courage to blow the whistle at a plant they work at, these workers often face retaliation or their complaints are simply ignored. If whistleblowers feel protected (hopefully under the law as well as among the community), it will be more difficult for agribusinesses to maintain their questionable practices as more people step up to push food transparency.
FIC’s website spotlights whistleblowers who have spoken out against violations of food integrity acts. Some that have lost their jobs for speaking up were able to publicize their concerns with the help of GAP. Others were protected from termination because of strong evidence GAP helped release to the media.
In addition to exploring http://www.foodwhistleblower.org to learn more about problems in today’s food system and our work with whistleblowers, you can also be part of the cause by following our campaign on Twitter @foodinteg and joining us on Facebook. We need your energy and support to keep this movement moving forward and solidify committed solutions that will enable confident providers and consumers of our nation’s food.
Sarah Damian is Social and New Media Fellow for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower advocacy organization.