Packers Sanitation Services losing contracts after child labor infractions

FILE – A worker heads into the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colo., on Oct. 12, 2020. Packers Sanitation Services Inc., or PSSI, one of the country’s …

FILE – A worker heads into the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colo., on Oct. 12, 2020. Packers Sanitation Services Inc., or PSSI, one of the country’s largest food safety cleaning service providers employed more than 100 children as young as 13 in dangerous jobs at 13 meat processing plants in eight states, including JBS, the U.S. Department of Labor said Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

by: Krista Burns

Posted: May 2, 2023 / 01:52 PM CDT

Updated: May 2, 2023 / 01:52 PM CDT

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The slaughterhouse cleaning company that employed more than 100 children to help sanitize dangerous equipment has continued to lose contracts with major meat producers.

Earlier this year, federal investigators confirmed that children as young as 13 were working for Packers Sanitation Services Inc. at plants in several states including Minnesota and Nebraska.
PSSI says it has taken a number of steps to tighten its hiring practices as part of an agreement with investigators.

The Biden Administration also urged the entire meat processing industry to take steps to make sure no kids are working in these plants either.

The Labor Department says there has been a 69 percent increase since 2018 in the number of children being employed illegally nationwide — it currently has more than 600 child labor investigations underway.