I am writing in response to the letter you printed by Charles Oleson about the lack of sanitary conditions at Swift. I started at Swift in 1987, working on the line. Every year the rules for safety and sanitation have only gotten stricter and more rigid. Even now, with their standards as high as they are, they are still looking for ways to improve the quality of their product.
There are very definite procedures to follow for all the employees, management and hourly workers alike. I work in the store room now. This is where, among other things, the knives that are used for production are kept in carts. These knives and carts are cleaned twice daily. They are also inspected by quality control and government inspectors. To give an example of how closely these knives and carts are inspected, the knife carts were tagged by the government and had to be re-cleaned before they could be used because they found some pieces of lint from the towels we used to wipe the knives on the cart. The knives are then brought to their respective departments where they must be dipped in a sanitizing solution. Also, the employees must dip all of their equipment and walk through a sanitizing solution to make sure their boots are sanitized. This is repeated every time an employee leaves and enters a department.
There are 11 government inspectors working on each shift, and these employees are not paid by Swift. Their interests do not lie with Swift. They are a separate entity working for the government. There are also at least 25 quality control employees working on every shift. These employees are picky to the point of being annoying. Also, many of these QC employees come in early along with line supervisors to run a pre-op to make sure the areas are cleaned and ready to use.
There are many examples of what Swift does to maintain a high standard of food safety. This is just a short list: product safety classes to educate employees on the safe handling of product; two separate cafeterias for the hot and cold side to reduce the chance of cross-contamination; hiring a separate company, PSSI, which employs 97 people to clean and sanitize the plant nightly; and holding every employee responsible for product safety by enforcing disciplinary actions for violations.
I am not an important person with a high profile job at Swift, but I do, along with my fellow employees, take a certain amount of pride in doing my job efficiently. We are not nonchalant about public safety, since our families are included in that public. Also, the meat at Swift is not taken straight from the plant down to a street corner to be sold. It is sold to customers who will be putting their name on the product, and they want to be sure they are buying the very best product possible on which to place their name.
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One last thing, Mr. Oleson, if I were working for a company that I felt had such a blatant disregard for the health and safety of the consumer, I would not be able to work there. But you are still cashing your paychecks, aren't you?
