Family Dollar shops pled guilty on Monday that they kept food, drugs, and cosmetics in a warehouse that was full of rats. The Department of Justice says that Family Dollar will have to pay $42 million, which is the biggest fine ever for a food safety case.
Products were sent to Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas from this facility. Family Dollar says it was for more than 400 different Family Dollar shops. In West Memphis, Arkansas, you can find the delivery center. In August 2020, reports started coming out that some packages had problems with bugs and mice. By the end of the year, the reports were more serious because shops were getting goods that had been harmed by mice and other rodents.
Even though they knew there was a problem, the warehouse kept sending goods until January 2022. The FDA then checked the warehouse and discovered rodent feces, dead and decaying rodents, live rodents, urine, and signs of chewing and nesting all over the building.
After that, a huge recall hit 404 stores after about 1,300 rodents were killed in February 2022.
Brian Boynton, senior deputy assistant attorney general, said, “It’s hard to believe that Family Dollar knew about the rodent and pest problems at its Arkansas distribution center but still sent out unsafe and dirty goods.”
Head of Dollar Tree and Chairman of the Board Rick Dreiling talked about it in a business news release. It said in the release, “When I joined Dollar Tree’s board of directors in March 2022, I was very upset to learn about these unacceptable problems at one of Family Dollar’s stores.”
“Since then, and even more so since I became CEO, we have worked hard to help Family Dollar resolve this historical matter and make our policies, procedures, and physical facilities much better to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” the statement said.
