Yasmine Motarjemi
Yasmine Motarjemi (born 1955) is a food safety specialist and whistleblower.
Biography
[edit]Motarjemi studied chemistry and biology at the Claude-Bernard University in Lyon and food industry techniques at the University of Montpellier, before doing PhD studies in food technology at the University of Lund. She then worked as a research assistant at the same university.[citation needed]
In 1990, she joined the World Health Organisation in Geneva, where she became a scientific expert and Director of Food Security and Food Aid. From 2000, as Corporate Food Safety Manager and Assistant Vice-President, she became responsible for food safety at Nestlé's headquarters in Vevey.[citation needed]
In 2003, following a complaint from parents, she wanted to withdraw from the market baby biscuits manufactured by the multinational .[1] From 2006 onwards, she called for an audit on the toxicity of baby products.
In 2009, a large-scale food poisoning of melamine-contaminated milk incident ausing kidney disease affected 300,000 babies in China, 13 of whom died[2]. The director of the offending products was promoted and became her manager. He took away her responsibilities and relegated her to menial tasks.[3] In 2010, she was fired. In March 2011, she filed a complaint against Nestlé with the court of the canton of Vaud for moral and psychological harassment.[4] By a judgement of 7 January 2020, the civil court of appeal recognised the grounds for harassment and that she had been intimidated in an "insidious manner".[5][6][7] In 2023, Nestlé withdrew its appeal, and the company had to pay 2 million Swiss francs, 100,000 francs for legal costs and a symbolic 1 symbolic franc for moral damages[2].
In 2019, she received the GUE/NGL Award for Journalists, Whistleblowers and Defenders of the Right to Information.[8]
Motarjemi was nominated for the Prix Courage 2020 by the Swiss magazine Beobachter, a prize that honours and promotes personalities "who fight fearlessly and with dedication for an idea - for an open, united and fair Switzerland".[9]
Bibliography
[edit]- (Co-editor) Encyclopedia on Food Safety, Academic Press, 2014[10]
References
[edit]- ^ "Entre prison et millions, 12 destins de lanceurs d'alerte". Le Temps (in French). 5 May 2015. ISSN 1423-3967. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ a b Cerf, Arthur (26 December 2024). "Yasmine Motarjemi, en guerre solitaire contre Nestlé et l'impunité". Libération (in French). Retrieved 29 December 2024.
- ^ "Whistleblowerin zerzaust neues Gesetz". Der Bund (in German). 8 January 2020. ISSN 0774-6156. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "La lourde charge d'une ancienne employée contre Nestlé". Le Temps (in French). 1 December 2015. ISSN 1423-3967. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Abboud, Leila (23 January 2020). "Former Nestlé food safety expert wins long-running dismissal case". Financial Times. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "Motarjemi contre Nestlé". www.humanrights.ch (in French). Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "PRESS RELEASE - Food Safety Whistleblower Vindicated While Swiss Law Makers Flounder - Whistleblowing International Network". whistleblowingnetwork.org. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ "GUE/NGL awards its Journalists, Whistleblowers and Defenders of the Right to Information prize". The Parliament Magazine. 15 October 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
- ^ Homann, Birthe (10 September 2020). "Prix Courage 2020 – Kandidatin 4: Jetzt für Yasmine Motarjemi abstimmen". Beobachter (in German). Retrieved 18 July 2021.
- ^ Encyclopedia on Food Safety in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
