Page 99 - Summer2020final

“Too big to fail” was a disaster in the banking are no whistleblower protections in the Poultry Products Inspection Act,
industry—we cannot allow companies like the main law that governs chicken products.
Tyson to keep taking us down that road in our The FDA then weighed in, arguing that the Food Safety Moderniza-
food system. tion Act's (FSMA’s) whistleblower provisions applied. Unfortunately, the
FDA’s main argument was that FSMA applied because live animals are
CHICKEN FARMER’S part of the definition of “food” under FSMA.
WHISTLEBLOWER CASE CAN PROCEED The problem with saying that live animals are “food” (as opposed to
One of the tools the large companies use to being destined to become food) is two-fold. One, it expands the normal
control the markets is “vertical integration,” in meaning of the language to increase the agency’s authority, which is bad
which they own the animals from birth to the precedent. Two, it would reduce the number of farmers who are exempt
store shelves. This is the dominant model in from the FSMA rules.
the poultry and swine industries, where most Why? Because the Tester exemption, for which we fought so hard,
conventional farmers are “contract growers,” is based on the farmers’ gross sales of “food,” as well as whether they
providing the land, building and labor to raise market primarily direct to consumers and local restaurants and retailers.
the chickens, but having no ownership of the So consider a small farmer who raises cattle to sell at the local livestock
animals and no real control over the process. market but also raises vegetables to sell at the farmers market. Under
In 2015, one of the contract growers decided the FDA’s interpretation of the law, if the sales of the produce and the
to pull back the curtain and expose what was cattle combined are over five hundred thousand dollars annually, then the
going on. Craig Watts raised chickens under farmer isn’t exempt—and would have to spend tens of thousands of dol-
contract with Perdue, and he invited an animal lars complying with FSMA’s Produce Safety Rule, even if the vegetable
welfare group to videotape the conditions in portion of their farm is very small and entirely direct-to-consumer.
the poultry houses on his farm. He also spoke I helped draft a legal brief on behalf of the Farm and Ranch Freedom
out about the poor health of the baby chicks Alliance, RAFI-USA and R-CALF USA, as amicus curiae, or friend of
that Perdue sent for raising, problems with feed the court. We argued that the DoL did not need to find that live animals
quality and questionable practices with the use are “food” in order to hear the whistleblower complaint. Rather, FSMA
of antibiotics. These facts posed potentially sig- clearly covers “animal feed” as well as the use of antibiotics in animals,
nificant food safety issues and were at odds with both of which are among the issues Watts had raised.
the claims Perdue was making in its advertising. In late May, the DoL’s Administrative Review Board issued its deci-
Perdue’s reaction was to blame Watts and use sion, which was that Watts’ whistleblower complaint could go forward.
its power—the fact that he had no other outlet Although the Board’s decision did not mention the amicus brief, it reflects
for marketing chicken because of the corporate the argument we made: Without deciding the question of whether live
consolidation of our food system—to threaten animals are “food” under FSMA, the board noted that FSMA clearly
his business. governs animal feed. And since Perdue provides the animal feed to the
Watts brought a whistleblower claim to the farmers who raise the chickens for them, the FSMA whistleblower provi-
Department of Labor (DoL). Perdue responded sions apply.
that his claim had to be rejected because there This is the best possible outcome. The farmer’s whistleblower case

INVITATION TO WAPF MEMBERS
We invite all members of the Weston A. Price Foundation to join our exclusive members-only closed group on
Facebook. Over two thousand members have already joined. Go to this link and click on the Join Group button and
answer the questions it asks: facebook.com/groups/westonapricefoundation. (Please note: It may take a week or so to
verify your membership and add you to the group once you ask to join on Facebook.)
This is an opportunity to be part of an active and supportive online community as you navigate our dietary recom-
mendations. This group was created for current WAPF members as a supportive forum for questions, comments and
discussion about food, farming and the healing arts. We welcome all members regardless of your level of familiarity with
our dietary recommendations! Here’s what members are saying about being part of this group:
Linda L.: “I can’t express enough how much it means to me to have a safe place for discussion of these some-
times controversial topics. The members here are respectful of one another and it fosters a wonderful community of
encouragement. A seemingly rare thing these days.”
Renate D.: “I love love love this group! One of my favorite parts of being a member. I feel like I know some people
here even though we haven’t met. I’ll definitely be at the conference in November so we can chat in person.”

SUMMER 2020 Wise Traditions 97