A popular multi-state chain store is set to be fined nearly $50 million after admitting to holding and selling consumer products from a rodent-infested warehouse.
Family Dollar Stores LLC pleaded guilty to holding food, drugs, medical devices, and cosmetic products at a rodent-infested warehouse at the Arkansas distribution center on February 26.
The company had been charged with ‘one misdemeanor count of causing FDA-regulated products to become adulterated while being held under insanitary conditions’, according to the Department of Justice.
Under a plea agreement, Family Dollar has agreed to pay $41.675 million, which the department said is the largest-ever monetary criminal penalty 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 has begun to receive reports in August 2020 of mouse and pest issues with deliveries to stores.
By the end of 2020, other stores had also reported receiving rodents and rodent-damaged products from the warehouse.
The company also admitted that by January 2021, some of its employees were aware that the insanitary conditions caused FDA-regulated products kept at the warehouse to become adulterated in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
Despite being aware of these issues, Family Dollar continued to ship rat-infested items until January 2022.
This came to a halt after a FDA inspection revealed live rodents, dead and decaying rodents, rodent feces, urine, and odors, and evidence of gnawing and nesting throughout the facility.
According to the plea agreement, subsequent fumigation of the facility resulted in the reported extermination of 1,270 rodents.
By February 18, 2022, Family Dollar had voluntarily recalled all drugs, medical devices, cosmetics and human and animal food products sold since January 2021 in the 404 stores.
Acting Associate 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 food and drugs on the shelves have been kept in clean, uncontaminated conditions.
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.’
US Attorney Jonathan D. Ross for the Eastern District of Arkansas also said: ‘Consumers trust that products purchased from retail stores such as Family Dollar are safe.
‘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.’
Family Dollar’s parent company, Dollar Tree’s owner Rick Dreiling said the company had ‘worked diligently to help Family Dollar resolve this historical matter and significantly enhance their policies, procedures and physical facilities to ensure it is not repeated’.