Family Dollar Stores agrees to pay $41.6M for rodent-infested warehouse in Arkansas

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Family Dollar Stores, a subsidiary of Dollar Tree Inc., pleaded guilty Monday to holding food, drugs, cosmetics and other items under “insanitary” conditions at a now-closed, rodent-infested distribution center in West Memphis, Arkansas, federal prosecutors said.

Family Dollar faced one misdemeanor count of causing FDA-regulated products to become adulterated while being held under insanitary conditions at the facility, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. The company entered into a plea deal that includes a sentence of a fine and forfeiture amount totaling $41.675 million, the largest-ever monetary criminal penalty in a food safety case, the department said.

“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,” said Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin C. Mizer. “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.”

A company spokesperson said it cooperated extensively with the DOJ’s investigation.

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