Family Dollar Stores LLC pleaded guilty today to holding food, drugs, medical devices, and cosmetics under insanitary conditions, related to a rodent infestation at the company’s West Memphis, Arkansas, distribution center.
A criminal information unsealed today in federal court in Little Rock, Arkansas, charged Family Dollar with one misdemeanor count of causing FDA-regulated products to become adulterated while being held under insanitary conditions. The company, a subsidiary of Dollar Tree Inc., entered into a plea agreement 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 plea agreement also requires Family Dollar and Dollar Tree to meet robust corporate compliance and reporting requirements for the next three years. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerome T. Kearney presided over the company’s guilty plea and sentencing at today’s hearing.
“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.”
“Companies distributing and selling food, drugs, medical devices, and cosmetics must ensure that these products are being held in safe and sanitary conditions,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Justice Department will continue to work closely with the FDA to investigate and prosecute those who put public health at risk by failing to meet this important obligation.”
“Consumers trust that products purchased from retail stores such as Family Dollar are safe,” said U.S. Attorney Jonathan D. Ross for the Eastern District of Arkansas. “It is incomprehensible that Family Dollar knew about the rodent and pest issues at its distribution center in Arkansas but continued to ship products that were unsafe and insanitary. Knowingly selling these types of products not only places the public’s health at risk but erodes the trust consumers have in the products they purchase. Products shipped and sold are required to be safe for consumers and the safety of Arkansans and others are extremely important to this office. Let me be clear, if you conduct business in Arkansas and allow the shipment or sale of unsafe and insanitary products, you will be held accountable.”