(Reuters) – The U.S. Division of Labor has opened investigations into meat corporations Tyson Meals (NYSE:) and Perdue Farms to find out whether or not migrant kids have been used to scrub slaughterhouses, the New York Occasions reported on Saturday.
The Labor Division opened the investigations after a New York Occasions Journal article this week confirmed migrant kids working in a single day shifts for contractors within the corporations’ vegetation on the Japanese Shore of Virginia, the report mentioned.
Reuters was not in a position to independently confirm the small print of the Occasions report. The Labor Division and Tyson Meals didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Reuters.
A Perdue spokesperson mentioned the corporate had not been notified of the investigation however deliberate to cooperate totally with any authorities inquiry on the matter.
“We’re conducting a complete third-party audit of kid labor prevention and safety procedures together with a compliance audit of contractors,” Purdue’s spokesperson mentioned.
The Labor Division has additionally opened investigations into Fayette Industrial and QSI that run cleansing shifts for Perdue and Tyson respectively, the newspaper mentioned.
QSI didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. Fayette Industrial couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
In April the Biden administration despatched a letter to meat corporations together with Tyson and Perdue asking the businesses to look at their provide chains for proof of kid labor.
The letter was a part of an effort by a number of businesses, led by the Labor Division, to curb using unlawful little one labor throughout sectors.