Repeat offenders: child labor exploitation in meatpacking plant
A shocking investigation by the Department of Labor (DOL) has uncovered persistent child labor violations at Seaboard Triumph Foods’ pork processing plant in Sioux City, Iowa. Over four years, children as young as 13 were illegally employed to sanitize hazardous equipment using corrosive chemicals, violating federal laws designed to protect minors from dangerous work.
The revelations of widespread child labor exploitation in industries like meatpacking are particularly relevant today due to three critical trends: the rise in documented violations, ongoing legislative rollbacks of child labor protections in the U.S., and the intersection of these violations with global migration crises.
Revealing repeat failures
The DOL’s investigation exposed how Seaboard Triumph Foods and its contractors repeatedly employed minors in dangerous roles. From 2019 to 2023, sanitation contractor Qvest hired 11 children to clean hazardous machinery, including head splitters and neck clippers, during overnight shifts.
Even though Federal law prohibits minors from working in meat processing due to an increased risk of injury, CBS reports that,
Seaboard Foods is among the nation’s biggest pork producers. In addition to Iowa, Seaboard Foods, a division of Seaboard Corporation, has operations in Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Mexico, according to the company’s website.
According to Michael Lazzeri, the DOL’s Midwest regional administrator,
“These findings illustrate Seaboard Triumph Foods’ history of children working illegally in their Sioux City facility since at least September 2019. Despite changing sanitation contractors, children continued to work in dangerous occupations at this facility.”
The investigation revealed that Fayette Janitorial Services, which took over Seaboard’s sanitation contract in 2023, rehired some of the same children previously employed by Qvest. Fayette also employed 15 minors, some as young as 13, at a Perdue Farms facility in Virginia, where a 14-year-old suffered severe injuries.