KIELER, WIS. — PSSI created a new position, chief compliance officer, and hired Diego Alvarez to take on the role.

Alvarez boasts 15 years of experience implementing compliance programs in the United States, as well as in South America, Africa and Asia.

"We are excited to welcome Diego to the PSSI team as our chief compliance officer," said Tim Mulhere, who took over as chief executive officer of PSSI in April. "He has a proven track record in overseeing and managing compliance issues within large corporations and will be instrumental in weaving a culture of compliance throughout PSSI, starting at the senior executive level. I am confident that his leadership experience and expertise will guide us in our compliance efforts as we move forward into 2024 and beyond."

Most recently, Alvarez served as senior director for international ethics and compliance, governance and monitoring at Walmart. Alvarez has also had experience as a compliance director for Western Union for the Latin American Region.

"I am thrilled to be joining PSSI and plan to hit the ground running,” Alvarez said. “I look forward to working with Tim and the board to put compliance first and continue helping PSSI's customers as they protect the health and safety of the nation's food supply."

PSSI is a provider of food safety solutions in North America. This past year, the company has been the subject of a Department of Labor investigation following child labor allegations against PSSI.

The DOL found that at least 102 workers between the ages of 13 to 17 were employed by PSSI to clean meatpacking plants, which are considered a hazardous work environment.

The discovery spurred changes in the company’s business and personnel. 

“As we’ve made clear from the start, PSSI has an absolute company-wide prohibition against the employment of anyone under the age of 18 and zero tolerance for any violation of that policy — period,” PSSI said in a statement in December 2022, when the company agreed to the DOL’s terms for reviewing policies and training for compliance with child labor laws.