Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI), based in Kieler, Wisconsin, was ordered to pay over $1.5 million in civil penalties following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, which found the country’s largest food processing cleaning company employed more than 100 children in dangerous jobs at 13 meatpacking plants across the country, according to a report from the Associated Press.
Over the past three years, children were found to be using caustic cleaning chemicals and cleaning dangerous power-driven equipment, like skull-splitters and razor-sharp bone saws.
At least three of those minors, including a 13-year-old, suffered burns from the chemicals used for cleaning.
The fine PSSI paid, $15,138 for each minor, is the maximum allowed under federal law. But investigators believe the company actually employed many more than the 102 children they verified.
