According to the Government Accountability Project, a federal food safety inspector uncovered violations of humane handling regulations at a USDA-regulated Tyson Foods plant in Iowa. Jim Schrier was a USDA meat inspector for 29 years.
GAP Food Integrity Campaign Director Amanda Hitt said in a statement, “USDA’s retaliation against Mr. Schrier is in direct violation of the federal whistleblower law, and mirrors the experiences of other meat industry whistleblowers we’ve worked with at GAP. It is evident that internal government mechanisms for reporting abuse simply do not work. Iowa’s Ag Gag law, which criminalizes undercover videotaping, is a terrible idea.”
Mr. Schrier reported violations to his supervisor, including seeing conscious animals being shackled and slaughtered, a violation of USDA’s humane handling violations that require pigs to be completely unconscious before they are shackled. He also saw inadequate stunning, which means the pigs were conscious before being shackled and slaughtered. After these reports, the USDA reassigned Mr. Schrier to a facility in another state, which is a violation of federal whistleblower protection.
we must stand together to protect whistleblowers or none will be safe. ag-gag goes against everything we thought our country stood for!