Food Safety Law Protects Whistleblowers
Food safety on the front lines of manufacturing received a major boost this year in the form of strong protection for food industry workers who blow the whistle on dangerous conditions that could lead to outbreaks of Salmonella, E. coli, Campylobacter, Listeria and other types of food poisoning.
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The whistleblower provision is tucked into the Food Safety Modernization Act signed last month by President Obama. It gives job protection to individuals who speak up about what they think are violations of food safety laws. If they were to get fired for blowing the whistle, the government could order them reinstated with back pay, attorneys' fees and other damages and protection from further retaliation.
Tom Devine, legal director for the Government Accountability Project, a non-profit whistleblowing organization that supported the new safeguards, told Associated Press reporter Steve Karnowski that whistleblowers are the informational lifeline to warn the public when government-approved food might be a public health hazard.
Karnowski reported that Kenneth Kendrick spoke out in 2009 about unsanitary conditions at a Peanut Corp. of America (PCA) plant in Texas. His claims drew attention after PCA's flagship plant in Blakely, Georgia, was blamed for a 2008-09 Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak that killed nine people and sickened more than 700 others across the country.
Kendrick, the Texas plant's assistant manager for part of 2006, said he sent state regulators anonymous e-mails about a rat infestation at the plant and bird droppings getting into products, but his complaints were ignored. He was working for a different FDA-regulated company when he spoke publicly about the problems, and he believes that's why he was fired from his new job and why he's had trouble finding work since.
The new law includes a burden of proof that favors workers when it comes to repairing any retailiation they suffer for warning people of potential contamination. But people should also know that the new food whistleblower protections only apply to food businesses regulated by the FDA. That excludes meatpacking plants, which are regulated by USDA. Devine has said his group will push for similar protection for workers at USDA-regulated facilities.
