Family Dollar to pay more than $41M fine over rat-infested warehouse

Family Dollar Stores LLC pleaded guilty on Monday to holding FDA-regulated products in “insanitary conditions” in a warehouse in Arkansas that was infested with rodents, the Department of Justice announced Monday.

Family Dollar, a subsidiary of Dollar Tree Inc., entered into a plea agreement, in which the company agreed to pay a fine and forfeiture sentence totaling $41.675 million – the largest-ever monetary criminal penalty in a food safety case, according to the DOJ.

The company will also be required to “meet robust corporate compliance and reporting requirements” for three years. It pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count.

“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,” Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said in a press release.

Among the products held in poor conditions were food, drugs, medical devices and cosmetics, the DOJ said. The rodent-infested Arkansas distribution center shipped the products to 404 stores in 6 states: Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.

Family Dollar admitted, by pleading guilty, that officials started receiving reports of the rodent infestation in August 2020 and knew the warehouse was delivering rodents and products that were damaged from rodents. By January 2021, the company said, some employees were aware that the insanitary conditions caused the FDA products to become adulterated.

The warehouse continued to ship the products out until January 2022, when an FDA inspection “revealed live rodents, dead and decaying rodents, rodent feces, urine, and odors, and evidence of gnawing and nesting throughout the facility.”

After the fumigation of the warehouse “resulted in the reported extermination of 1,270 rodents,” the company recalled all FDA-regulated products since Jan. 1, 2021, from the 404 stores serviced by the rodent-infested warehouse.

U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ross for the Eastern District of Arkansas said in a statement that “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.”

“Knowingly selling these types of products not only places the public’s health at risk but erodes the trust consumers have in the products they purchase. Products shipped and sold are required to be safe for consumers and the safety of Arkansans and others are extremely important to this office,” he continued. “Let me be clear, if you conduct business in Arkansas and allow the shipment or sale of unsafe and insanitary products, you will be held accountable.”