2022 Food & Water Watch Annual Report

Food & Water Watch • 2022 Annual Report

Progress for Sustainable Food In 2022, together we:

VICTORIES

Emily Fights Food Misinformation

Struck down an anti- whistleblower law in Iowa that would have

Pursued a lawsuit to force the EPA to begin a detailed study of factory farm water pollution to determine how to strengthen its Clean Water Act regulations. This study is a critical opportunity for the agency to understand the true scope of factory farm water pollution, something it has lacked for decades.

Emily and the Food & Water Watch legal team filed a lawsuit against Smithfield Foods in 2021 for fabricating a national meat shortage to drive up demand and lying about the unsafe conditions its workers endured during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We knew that Smithfield was making wildly false claims about the national meat supply. We were never in danger of running out. We also found that it was trying to weaken worker protections in order to protect its bottom line.” In 2022, a Congressional investigative report confirmed our allegations, and a court rejected Smithfield’s attempt to dismiss our lawsuit. Emily

criminalized undercover investigations into animal cruelty, unsafe working conditions and food safety threats at factory farms, slaughterhouses and other animal facilities. Won a court decision that rejected Smithfield Food’s attempt to dismiss Food & Water Watch’s lawsuit against it. A damning Congressional report was released just before this ruling that confirmed our allegations shortages and endangered its workers with “glaringly deficient” safety protocols during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. that Smithfield lied to the public about meat

and her team fight every day to protect the public’s right to truthful information and push companies to do better for their workers.

Emily Miller Staff Attorney

foodandwaterwatch.org

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