The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. will pay $25 million and enter a deferred prosecution agreement to resolve criminal charges related to foodborne illness outbreaks that occurred between 2015 and 2018. The deferred prosecution agreement will require Chipotle to comply with an improved food safety program for three years to avoid conviction. “This case highlights why it is important for restaurants and members of the food services industry to ensure that managers and employees consistently follow food safety policies,” a DOJ attorney stated in a press release. “The Department of Justice will vigorously enforce food safety laws in order to protect public health.”
Category Archives Department of Justice
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that Roy Tuccillo, Sr., his son Roy Tuccillo, Jr., and their food processing and distribution companies, Anchor Frozen Foods Inc. and Advanced Frozen Foods Inc., have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The companies reportedly imported 113,000 pounds of squid and sold it as octopus to more than ten grocery stores. The father and son could face up to five years of imprisonment and fines up to $250,000, while their companies may be required to pay a fine of up to $500,000 and face five years of probation.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that Memet Beqiri had pleaded guilty to "a charge related to his meat processing business's falsification of numerous E. coli test results," according to a press release. Beqiri, owner and general manager of New England Meat Packing LLC, allegedly prepared and submitted falsified documents indicating that the company had sent carcass swabs and ground beef samples to a certified laboratory, which purportedly had found no E. coli. "In fact, none of the 52 carcass swabs and samples had been submitted or tested by the identified laboratory, or any other laboratory, and the 36 documents were fraudulently prepared using laboratory letterhead obtained from previous testing that New England Meat Packing had conducted with that laboratory," the press release states. The charge carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years; Beqiri will be sentenced in November 2019.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that Phillip Carawan pleaded guilty to falsely labeling crabmeat worth $4 million as a product of the United States despite being imported. Carawan and his company apparently could not meet customer demand and imported foreign crabmeat to cover orders for U.S.-produced crabmeat. “Seafood mislabeling is consumer fraud that undermines efforts of hardworking, honest fisherman and the free market by devaluing the price of domestic seafood,” the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina said in a DOJ press release. “In this case, the fraudulent scheme artificially deflated the cost of domestic blue crab and gave Carawan an unacceptable economic advantage over law-abiding competitors.”
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that Michael Casey, vice president of Casey's Seafood Inc., has pleaded guilty to charges of falsely labeling almost 400,000 pounds of crab meat as derived from Atlantic blue crab in the United States despite importing the meat from a number of countries, including Indonesia, China, Thailand and Vietnam. Casey's guilty plea comes after a conviction for his father on similar charges. The foreign crab meat, which the company reportedly repacked into containers labeled "Product of USA," had a wholesale value of approximately $4,324,916. “U.S. consumers expect the origin of their seafood to be correctly identified. When sellers attempt to deceive the public about their product’s origins, they put the public’s health at risk by introducing seafood of unknown origin,” a DOJ investigator is quoted as saying in an agency press release. “When sellers are deceptive about their products’ origins, they deprive the…
Bumble Bee Foods, LLC has agreed to plead guilty to one felony count for its role in a conspiracy to fix prices of shelf-stable tuna and will pay a minimum $25 million fine. U.S. v. Bumble Bee Foods LLC, No. 17-CR-249 (N.D. Cal. May 8, 2017). According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bumble Bee conspired with other seafood companies and their executives to inflate prices for canned and pouch tuna. Two Bumble Bee executives have already pleaded guilty to criminal charges; details appear in Issue 625 of this Update. “Today’s charge is the third to be filed—and the first to be filed against a corporate defendant—in the Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigation into price fixing among some of the largest suppliers of packaged seafood,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Andrew Finch said in a May 8, 2017, press release. “The division, along with our law enforcement colleagues, will continue to hold…
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have reportedly ended their investigations into Hampton Creek's alleged sales-inflation buyback operation, in which employees purchased jars of the company's Just Mayo product then sold the jars back to the company. Bloomberg initially reported that the company had expensed $1.4 million for "Inventory Consumed for Samples and Internal Testing” while reporting $1.9 million in sales during the same period, but a forensic consulting team with an accounting firm commissioned by Hampton Creek apparently found that the company spent less than half of one percent of sales on the buyback program. Additional information on the Bloomberg report appears in Issue 613 of this Update. See Fortune, March 24, 2017. Issue 629
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has obtained a consent decree against Valley Milk Products LLC prohibiting the sale of more than four million pounds of milk powder products and preventing the company from manufacturing the products in the future. U.S. v. All 50 pound high heat nonfat dry milk powder (Grade A), No. 16-0076, (W.D. Va., order entered March 17, 2017). DOJ seized dry milk and dry buttermilk products at the company’s Strasburg, Virginia, facility in November 2016 after FDA inspections found unsanitary conditions and confirmed samples of Salmonella and Listeria. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Salmonella strains were “nearly identical” to strains found at Strasburg in 2010, 2011 and 2013, indicating “the existence of persistent/resident strain and harborage” of the bacteria at the facility. DOJ also alleged the products were “contaminated with filth” after inspectors found dark brown droplets forming on metal surfaces of…
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against two Washington companies—Washington Potato and Pasco Processing—for allegedly discriminating against immigrants during the employment eligibility verification process. United States v. Wash. Potato Co., No. 16-1320 (D.O.J., filed November 14, 2016). The complaint alleges the companies required non-U.S. citizens to submit specific documentation to process the Form I-9 and E-Verify while allowing U.S. citizens more flexibility in their documentation. “Federal law protects individuals with legal work authorization from facing discriminatory obstacles during employment eligibility verification,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta in a November 14, 2016, press release. “All people with legal employment status in the United States must receive an equal opportunity to prove they can work, regardless of their citizenship or immigration status.” Issue 623
Following an investigation into potential criminal violations of federal immigration laws, Mary’s Gone Crackers Inc. will pay $1.5 million and establish a corporate compliance program but will not be prosecuted, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced. The investigation determined that 48 of the company’s employees were ineligible to work in the United States; Mary’s informed Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the employees had left the company, but further investigation found that Mary’s hired at least 13 of those employees back under different names. In addition to the $1.5-million payment, Mary’s must establish an anonymous tip line for employees to report noncompliance issues, provide I-9 training to employees and report compliance measures to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for two years. Issue 613
