There is a provision in the newly enacted Food Safety Modernization Act ("FSMA") which provides protection to employees who report what they reasonably believe to be violations of any food regulation enforced by the FDA. As many have pointed out, the poultry and meat-packing industries are regulated by the USDA, not the FDA, so workers in those industries don't yet have these types of protections.
Many states, including Florida (where I practice), have private whistleblower statutes which provide an employee with a cause of action against her employer if the employee objects to an actual violation of law and suffers an adverse employment action as a result. The FSMA has an important difference - apparently, the employee only must "reasonably believe" that a violation occurred. It looks like this will be an important protection and will enable employees who witness violations to come forward without fear of retribution - which will hopefully cause employers to be more careful to avoid violating FDA regulations. I'll post more on the FSMA as I digest it (pun totally intended).
Here is the Government Accountability Project's article on the whistleblower provision.
Here is the FDA's useful resource page on the FSMA.
By the way, to all you employees of FDA-regulated companies: it looks like you only have 180 days after the date of what you reasonably believe to be a violation to file a complaint, so don't delay, call a lawyer today. The statute also provides for a reasonable attorneys' fee to the complainant's counsel.
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