Should a thirteen-year-old be working a hazardous job at night?
Packers Sanitation Services Inc. apparently thinks so. In 2022, the company hired a thirteen-year-old child from Guatemala as a night shift cleaner at a Grand Island, Nebraska meatpacking plant. The facility is owned by JBS, one of the world’s largest food companies.
The girl’s employment “came to an abrupt end after a nurse at Walnut Middle School found chemical burns, blisters and open wounds on her hands and one knee,” The Washington Post reported. The injuries arose from exposure to hazardous chemicals used to clean the blood, fat and animal parts that remain after a day on the killing floor.