Federal Investigation Launched into Perdue and Tyson for Alleged Child Labor Violations

Perdue Farms and Tyson Foods are being investigated by the US Labor Department over reports that migrant children, some as young as 13, were employed to clean their meat-processing plants during overnight shifts. The investigation follows an exposé that revealed a 14-year-old boy had his arm mutilated by a deboning machine at a Perdue-operated chicken slaughterhouse. One-third of the Perdue plant's overnight cleaning crew was reportedly made up of children. The children were employed by a cleaning company, Fayette Industrial, which is also facing a federal investigation. This is not the first time underage workers have been found in dangerous occupations, as the Labor Department previously found children as young as 13 working at a meat processing plant in Nebraska.