The Department of Justice announced Monday that Family Dollar Stores LLC has pleaded guilty to storing consumer products in a warehouse that has been characterized as a “rodent-infested warehouse.” CBS News.
The company admitted to storing medical equipment, food, medicine and cosmetics in unclean and unsanitary conditions, the statement said. The statement further said rodents were present at the company’s distribution center in West Memphis, Arkansas.
As a result, the company agreed to pay $41,675,000, which the Department of Justice says is the largest criminal penalty ever paid in a food safety case.
Details of the crime were revealed Monday in federal court, with Family Dollar charged with one misdemeanor count of damaging an FDA-regulated product by storing it in an unsanitary environment, the newspaper reported. . new york post.
“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 Assistant 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.”
Family Dollar and Dollar Tree will be required 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.”
The Arkansas warehouse continued to ship product through January 2022, but an FDA inspection found that the entire facility contained live, dead and decomposing rodents, as well as rodent feces. Even was discovered. Approximately 1,300 rodents were ultimately exterminated, and the company initiated a major recall of the product sold at 404 stores.
“When I joined the Dollar Tree Board of Directors in March 2022, I was deeply disappointed to learn of these unacceptable issues at one of our Family Dollar properties,” said Dollar Tree Chairman. Rick Dreyling, CEO and Chief Executive Officer, said in a company release.
“Since that time, and even more directly since I assumed the role of CEO, we have committed to ensuring that Family Dollar resolves this historic problem and has significantly improved our policies, procedures and physical facilities to ensure it does not happen again.” We have been working diligently to strengthen this.”
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