US meatpacker JBS opens cleaning unit after outside firm fined for hiring kids (updated)

Pilgrims Pride

04/05/2023 21:50

(Adds comment from JBS USA in paragraph 5, background on move
by Agriculture Sectary in final paragraph)
       CHICAGO, May 4 (Reuters) - JBS USA, one of biggest U.S.
meatpackers, is creating an internal company to clean some of
its processing plants after a private sanitation firm it
employed was accused of hiring children for dangerous work.
    The launch shows the complexities involved in replacing
Packers Sanitation Services Inc (PSSI), a firm that contracts to
clean slaughterhouses. The U.S. government in February said PSSI
paid $1.5 million in penalties for employing more than 100
underage teenagers at meat plants across eight states.
    The new company, JBS Sanitation, will "immediately begin the
transition" to cleaning 10 JBS USA facilities, which produce
beef and pork, according to a statement issued this week. JBS
Sanitation will also do in-house cleaning for Pilgrim's Pride
Corp  PPC.O  and create "hundreds of union jobs," the statement
said.
    JBS USA is the North American unit of Brazil's JBS SA
 JBSS3.SA , which also owns most of Pilgrim's Pride.
    "We fully expect JBS Sanitation to be cost competitive with
other service providers," JBS USA spokesperson Nikki Richardson
said on Thursday, without providing details.
    America's largest meatpacking union, the United Food and
Commercial Workers International Union, said it is working with
JBS USA on in-house sanitation. 
    PSSI has said it has a policy against employing minors.
    JBS USA previously said it terminated contracts with PSSI at
"numerous" facilities, including three plants where alleged
child-labor violations occurred. Third-party companies that meet
employment verification standards will continue to clean some
JBS USA and Pilgrim's Pride plants, according to the statement. 
    Meatpacking rival Cargill Inc said it was cutting all ties
with PSSI but the process will take months.
    U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sent a letter to the
largest U.S. meat and chicken processing companies last month,
urging them to examine their supply chains for evidence of child
labor.
    

 (Reporting by Tom Polansek; Editing by Leslie Adler and Bill
Berkrot)
 ((Thomas.Polansek@thomsonreuters.com))