Family Dollar fined $41.6 million over rodent-infested warehouse
Newsy
The company's plea deal includes the largest-ever monetary criminal penalty in a food safety case, says the Justice Department.
Family Dollar Stores pleaded guilty Monday to holding food, drugs, cosmetics and other items under "insanitary" conditions at a now-closed, rodent-infested distribution center in West Memphis, Arkansas, federal prosecutors said.
The company, which is a subsidiary of Dollar Tree Inc., faced one misdemeanor count of causing FDA-regulated products to become adulterated while being held under insanitary conditions at the facility, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.
The company entered into a plea deal that includes a sentence of a fine and forfeiture amount totaling $41.675 million, the largest-ever monetary criminal penalty in a food safety case, the department said.
"When consumers go to the store, they have the right to expect that the food and drugs on the shelves have been kept in clean, uncontaminated conditions," said Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. "When companies violate that trust and the laws designed to keep consumers safe, the public should rest assured: The Justice Department will hold those companies accountable."
The plea agreement also requires Family Dollar and Dollar Tree to meet robust corporate compliance and reporting requirements for the next three years, the DOJ said.
