Pilgrim’s Pride is the world’s second largest poultry producer. The firm’s repeat violations of chemical process safety management should earn them OSHA’s severe violator label.
On July 15 and 16, about two dozen farmworkers paid an unprecedented visit to Capitol Hill to ask Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the White House to support increased protection from exposure to pesticides. Farmworkers have lobbied Congress before, but this is the first time such a visit focused entirely on pesticide exposure […]
by Anthony Robbins, MD, MPA The current issue of Mother Jones offers an article on the troubling and growing list of State “gag laws” which make it a crime to disclose contamination and abuse in animal breeding and slaughter houses. Ted Genoways in “Gagged by Big Ag,” describes the events and players leading to: laws […]
Environmental Health
Study: Industrial food-animal workers test positive for livestock-associated MRSA
In a recent study comparing workers at industrial livestock operations and those employed at antibiotic-free livestock operations, researchers found that industrial workers were much more likely to carry livestock-associated strains of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, more commonly and scarily known as MRSA.
Food Safety & Nutrition
Harsh working conditions in US poultry and meatpacking plants violate human rights, OAS Commission to review the claim
Civil rights groups filed a petition today with the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Commission on Human Rights asserting that the U.S. government has failed to protect poultry and meatpacking workers from permanently disabling and life altering work-related injuries and other abuses.
“If we could get growers to comply with the law, that would revolutionize agriculture in this country,” said United Farm Workers (UFW) national vice president Erik Nicholson explaining the circumstances that led to the creation of the Equitable Food Initiative.
Researchers compare the calories purchased by teenagers at McDonald’s versus Subway.
This week’s MMWR describes cases of bronchiolitis obliterans diagnosed in two individuals who worked— not at a microwave popcorn plant—-at a Texas coffee bean processing company.
Environmental Health
Will Tom Vilsack’s USDA keep its promise to poultry plant workers about their grueling, disabling work?
The USDA Secretary tells Congress that his agency still plans to implement a new poultry slaughter inspection system that will allow producers to drastically increase line speeds, while a disturbing new report on poultry workers in Alabama explain the harmful effects of the current working conditions.
Researchers with Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab observe diners’ behavior to predict the number of trips they’ll make to the buffet at all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurants.