A popular multi-state retail chain will be fined nearly $50 million after admitting it kept and sold consumer products in a rodent-infested warehouse.
Family Dollar Stores LLC pleaded guilty to storing food, medications, medical devices and cosmetic products in a rodent-infested warehouse at the Arkansas distribution center on February 26.
The company had been charged with “a misdemeanor for causing the adulteration of FDA-regulated products while they were held in unsanitary conditions,” according to the Justice Department.
Under a plea agreement, Family Dollar agreed to pay $41.675 million, which the department says is the largest criminal monetary penalty ever in a food safety case.
The rodent-infested Arkansas distribution center shipped products to 404 stores in Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.
Family Dollar Stores LLC pleaded guilty to storing food, medications, medical devices and cosmetic products in a rodent-infested warehouse at the Arkansas distribution center on February 26.
Under a plea agreement, Family Dollar agreed to pay $41.675 million, which the department says is the largest criminal monetary penalty ever in a food safety case.
The rodent-infested Arkansas distribution center shipped products to 404 stores in Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.
According to the Department, Family Dollar began receiving reports in August 2020 about mouse and pest problems with deliveries to stores.
By late 2020, other stores had also reported receiving rodents and rodent-damaged products from the warehouse.
The company also admitted that, in January 2021, some of its employees knew that unsanitary conditions caused FDA-regulated products held in the warehouse to be adulterated, in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
Despite being aware of these issues, Family Dollar continued shipping rat-infested items until January 2022.
This was stopped after an FDA inspection revealed live rodents, dead and decomposing rodents, rodent feces, urine and odors, and evidence of rodents and nesting throughout the facility.
According to the plea agreement, subsequent fumigation of the facility resulted in the extermination of 1,270 rodents.
According to the Department, Family Dollar began receiving reports in August 2020 about mouse and pest problems with deliveries to stores.
According to the plea agreement, subsequent fumigation of the facility resulted in the extermination of 1,270 rodents.
Family Dollar’s parent company, Dollar Tree, and owner Rick Dreiling (right) have yet to comment.
By February 18, 2022, Family Dollar had voluntarily recalled all medications, medical devices, cosmetics, and human and animal food products sold since January 2021 in all 404 stores.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer said in the Department’s statement: ‘When consumers go to the store, they have the right to expect that the foods and medications on the shelves have been kept in clean and uncontaminated conditions.
“When companies violate that trust and laws designed to keep consumers safe, the public should rest assured: the Department of Justice will hold those companies accountable.”
U.S. Attorney Jonathan D. Ross for the Eastern District of Arkansas also said, ‘Consumers trust that products purchased at retail stores like Family Dollar are safe.
“It is incomprehensible that Family Dollar knew of the rodent and pest problems at its distribution center in Arkansas but continued to ship products that were unsafe and unsanitary.”
Family Dollar’s parent company, Dollar Tree owner Rick Dreiling, said the company had “worked diligently to help Family Dollar resolve this historic matter and significantly improve its policies, procedures and physical facilities to ensure it is not repeated.” “.
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