Family Dollar Stores LLC has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge after admitting to storing food, drugs, medical devices, and cosmetics under unsanitary conditions at its West Memphis, Arkansas, distribution center. This guilty plea comes in the wake of a significant rodent infestation at the facility.
In a criminal information unsealed in federal court in Little Rock, Arkansas, Family Dollar was charged with one count of causing FDA-regulated products to become adulterated due to the insanitary conditions. The company, a subsidiary of Dollar Tree Inc., has agreed to a plea agreement that includes a staggering $41.675 million in fines and forfeiture. This penalty marks the largest monetary criminal penalty ever imposed in a food safety case. As part of the agreement, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree will also be subject to stringent corporate compliance and reporting requirements for the next three years. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jerome T. Kearney presided over the hearing where the company entered its guilty plea and was sentenced.
“Consumers have every right to expect that the products they purchase from stores like Family Dollar are safe and have been stored in clean, uncontaminated environments,” stated Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. “When companies fail to uphold this trust and violate the laws designed to protect consumers, the Department of Justice is committed to holding them accountable.”
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, emphasized the responsibility of companies distributing regulated products. “Companies that distribute and sell food, drugs, medical devices, and cosmetics have a fundamental duty to ensure these products are held in safe and sanitary conditions,” Boynton said. “The Justice Department will continue its close collaboration with the FDA to investigate and prosecute those who jeopardize public health by neglecting this critical obligation.”
U.S. Attorney Jonathan D. Ross for the Eastern District of Arkansas expressed his dismay at the company’s actions. “It is shocking that Family Dollar was aware of the rodent and pest issues at its Arkansas distribution center and yet continued to ship potentially unsafe and unsanitary products,” Ross stated. “Knowingly selling such products not only endangers public health but also erodes consumer trust. Products must be safe for consumers, and the safety of our communities is paramount. Let this be a clear message: businesses operating in Arkansas will be held responsible for shipping or selling unsafe and insanitary goods.”
Special Agent in Charge Charles L. Grinstead of the FDA-OCI Kansas City Field Office highlighted the FDA’s role in safeguarding the food supply. “American consumers depend on the FDA to ensure the safety and integrity of their food,” Grinstead said. “When companies prioritize profits over public safety and distribute food held under extremely insanitary conditions, we will ensure they face justice.”
Family Dollar admitted that its Arkansas distribution center shipped FDA-regulated products to over 400 Family Dollar stores across Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee. The plea agreement revealed that reports of mouse and pest issues in store deliveries began as early as August 2020. By the end of 2020, numerous stores reported receiving rodents and rodent-damaged goods from the distribution center. The company acknowledged that by January 2021, at the latest, some employees were aware of the insanitary conditions causing the adulteration of FDA-regulated products at the warehouse, violating the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDCA).
Despite this knowledge, Family Dollar continued to ship products from the contaminated warehouse until January 2022. An FDA inspection in January 2022 uncovered disturbing evidence of the infestation: live rodents, dead and decaying rodents, rodent feces, urine, odors, and signs of gnawing and nesting were found throughout the facility. Following the inspection, fumigation of the distribution center reportedly exterminated 1,270 rodents. On February 18, 2022, Family Dollar initiated a voluntary recall of all drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, and human and animal food products sold since January 1, 2021, from the 404 stores supplied by the implicated warehouse.
FDA-OCI Special Agents Chad Medaris and Daniel Allgeyer conducted the investigation. The case was prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Patrick Runkle and Trial Attorney Alisha Crovetto of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch, along with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julie Peters and Cameron McCree for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
More information about the Consumer Protection Branch and its enforcement activities is available at www.justice.gov/civil/consumer-protection-branch.
