U.S. Attorney Announces Plea Deal in Tomato Industry Corruption Case

The U.S. Attorney in Sacramento, California, has announced that a former purchasing manager for Safeway Inc. has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud “in connection with an ongoing federal investigation into various illicit activities in the tomato processing industry.” According to the announcement, Michael Chavez has admitted that “while working at Safeway, he received personal bribery payments”
from a sales broker and director of SK Foods L.P. to steer contracts for processed tomato products to that company rather than industry competitors. Purchasing managers at other major food companies have also pleaded guilty to receiving illicit payments from the SK Foods broker.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner further noted that the Justice Department’s investigation into SK Foods “has uncovered wide-ranging fraud with respect to the quality of tomato product that was produced, purchased and sold by the company.” Apparently, “SK Foods regularly shipped products which, while not a health threat, contained mold count levels that were above the federal regulatory threshold, or which bore altered dates of production or other falsified information.” See DOJ Press Release, January 6, 2010.