The Department of Justice announced Monday that Family Dollar Stores LLC has pleaded guilty to storing consumer products in a “rodent-infested warehouse.”
The Justice Department on Monday said the company pleaded guilty to storing food, drugs, medical devices and cosmetics in unsanitary conditions in connection with a rodent infestation at its distribution center in West Memphis, Arkansas. issued a statement.
The company also agreed to pay $41,675,000, which the Justice Department says is the largest criminal penalty ever paid in a food safety case.
On Monday, criminal information was released in federal court charging Family Dollar with one misdemeanor count of contaminating FDA-regulated products that were stored in unsanitary conditions.
“When consumers go to the store, they have the right to expect that the food and medicines on the shelves will be clean and uncontaminated,” said Acting Deputy Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. “The public can rest assured that when companies violate that trust and the laws put in place to protect consumer safety, the Department of Justice will hold those companies accountable.”
The plea agreement also requires Family Dollar and Dollar Tree to meet strict corporate compliance and reporting requirements over the next three years.
“Consumers trust that the products they purchase from retailers like Family Dollar are safe,” said Jonathan D. Ross, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. “It is incomprehensible that Family Dollar knew of the rodent and pest problems at its distribution center in Arkansas and yet continued to ship unsafe and unsanitary products.”
Mr. Ross further stated that knowingly selling these types of products not only endangers public health, but also undermines consumer confidence in the products they purchase.
“Products shipped and sold must be safe for consumers, and the safety of Arkansans and others is extremely important to our office. “If you allow dangerous and unsanitary products to be shipped or sold, you will be held accountable,” Ross said.
In pleading guilty, the company said its Arkansas distribution center shipped FDA-regulated products to more than 400 Family Dollar stores in Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee. Admitted.
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According to the plea agreement, the company began receiving reports of rodent and vermin problems with deliveries to its stores in August 2020.
By the end of 2020, some stores reported receiving rodent and rodent-damaged products from warehouses.
By no later than January 2021, the company had confirmed that some of its employees had confirmed that unsanitary conditions had contaminated FDA-regulated products stored in its warehouses, in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA). admitted that he was aware of it.
“American consumers trust the FDA to ensure that their food is safe and wholesome,” said Charles, Special Agent in Charge of the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigation (FDA-OCI) Kansas City Field Office.・L. Grinstead said. “When companies ignore the law and put public health at risk by distributing food that is stored in extremely unsanitary conditions, we will hold them to justice.”
According to the plea agreement, the company continued to ship FDA-regulated products from its warehouses until January 2022, after which FDA inspections revealed no live, dead, rotten or rodent animals. Animal feces, urine, odors, and evidence of nesting throughout the facility were found. .
According to the plea agreement, 1,270 rodents were reportedly removed by fumigation of the warehouse after the inspection.
On February 18, 2022, the Department of Justice announced that the company had sold all pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetics, human and veterinary products sold at the 404 stores served by the warehouse since January 1, 2021. Reported that the food was recalled voluntarily.
