A sanitation company has been fined $171,000 after federal investigators discovered 11 children working illegal and dangerous overnight shifts at the Seaboard Triumph Foods pork processing plant in Sioux City, Iowa.
The U.S. Labor Department announced that the children, employed by Qvest LLC, were tasked with using hazardous cleaning agents to sanitize industrial equipment, including head splitters, jaw pullers, bandsaws, and neck clippers. The investigation revealed that this illegal practice persisted from September 2019 through September 2023.
Illegal Child Labor Practices
Under U.S. labor laws, individuals under the age of 18 are strictly prohibited from working in meat processing due to the inherent dangers. Despite this, Qvest employed minors for tasks involving corrosive chemicals and heavy machinery.
As part of a settlement, Qvest must pay the fine, overhaul its child labor policies, and hire a third-party auditor within 90 days to ensure compliance with federal laws. The company is also required to implement a whistleblower hotline for reporting illegal employment practices.
Qvest, based in Oklahoma, did not respond to requests for comment.
Seaboard Triumph Foods Denies Wrongdoing
Seaboard Triumph Foods stated that it had no knowledge of underage workers in its facility and that it has not employed Qvest’s services for over a year. The company emphasized its zero-tolerance policy for vendors engaging in child labor.
“This situation underscores the importance of rigorous oversight of contractors,” said Michael Lazzeri, the Midwest regional administrator for the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division.
A Recurring Issue
This is not the first instance of child labor violations at the Sioux City facility. In May, Fayette Janitorial Services LLC was fined nearly $650,000 for employing almost two dozen minors at the same plant and a Perdue Farms facility in Virginia. Both Seaboard Triumph Foods and Perdue Farms terminated their contracts with Fayette following the investigation.
Broader Implications
The issue of child labor in meat processing plants is part of a disturbing trend. In the 2024 fiscal year alone, the Wage and Hour Division uncovered over 4,000 child labor violations across 736 investigations, resulting in more than $15 million in fines — an 89% increase from the previous year.
Paul DeCamp, a former Wage and Hour Division head and now counsel for Seaboard Triumph, attributed some of these violations to minors using fraudulent identification to secure jobs.
“This situation underscores the problems facing employers throughout the country: individuals, including minors, obtaining jobs through their use of fraudulent identification documents, which are sophisticated enough to fool even the federal government’s E-Verify system,” DeCamp said in a statement.
The Human Toll
The dangers of underage employment in slaughterhouses were tragically highlighted in the case of 16-year-old Duvan Pérez, who died after being trapped in machinery at a different facility. Pérez reportedly secured the job using identification belonging to a 32-year-old man.
Calls for Reform
The revelations have sparked renewed calls for stricter enforcement of child labor laws and more robust oversight of contractors in high-risk industries. Labor advocates argue that the rise in violations demonstrates systemic failures in preventing exploitative practices.
“The use of child labor in hazardous environments is unacceptable and requires immediate action at every level of industry and government,” Lazzeri said.
As investigations continue, the case underscores the urgent need for vigilance in protecting vulnerable workers from exploitation in the workplace.
