A US company is accused of illegally hiring children to clean meat processing plants

By HANNAH FINGERHUT
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. authorities have accused another sanitation company of illegally hiring at least two dozen children to clean dangerous meat processing facilities. It’s the latest example of the illegal child labor that officials say is increasingly common. The Labor Department asked a federal judge for an injunction to halt the employment of minors by Tennessee-based Fayette Janitorial Service LLC. The department alleges that underage workers are in hazardous conditions where animals are killed and rendered. The filing details the severe injuries one 14-year-old sustained while cleaning the drumstick packing line belt at a Virginia plant. Fayette told The Associated Press in an email that it is fully cooperating with the investigation.