The Department of Labor says one of the country's largest cleaning services for food processing companies employed more than 100 children at 13 meatpacking plants across the country, including on in Kansas.

The agency said yesterday that Wisconsin-based Packer Sanitation Services Inc. has paid over $1.5 million in civil penalties. At least three of those minors were injured on the job, burned by caustic cleaning chemicals at the JBS plant in Grand Island, Nebraska. Twenty six children were found working at the Cargill plant in Dodge City, Kansas. Other plants with violations include those in Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Tennessee and Texas. The Labor Department also searched a Tyson facility in Sedalia, Missouri, but found no verifiable violations there. The agency says it's seen about a 50% increase in child labor violations since 2018.