Kerry Agrees to Pay $19.2M for Unsanitary Plant Conditions Linked to 2018 Salmonella Outbreak
Global food and ingredient manufacturer Kerry Inc. has agreed to pay a $19.2 million fine after pleading guilty to a charge of manufacturing breakfast cereal under unsanitary conditions at an Illinois facility linked to a 2018 salmonella outbreak, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.
“Today’s announcement should serve as a reminder that food manufacturers have a critical responsibility to produce and sell food that is safe for American consumers to eat,” said FDA Office of Criminal Investigation assistant commissioner Justin D. Green in a statement. “We will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who put the public at risk by allowing contaminated foods to enter the U.S. marketplace.”
Under a plea deal filed in federal court in Peoria, Illinois, the ingredient company pled guilty to a misdemeanor count of distributing adulterated cereal marketed as Kellogg’s Honey Smacks and agreed to pay the fine a criminal fine and forfeiture totaling $19.2 million. If the court accepts the guilty plea, it will mark the largest-ever criminal penalty following a conviction in a food safety case, according to the DOJ.
According to the agreement, routine environmental tests conducted between 2016 and 2018 detected Salmonella at Kerry’s Gridley, Illinois plant approximately 81 times, including at least one positive sample each month. The agreement also claims employees failed to routinely implement corrective and preventive measures to address the positive tests.
In June 2018, The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (FDA) announced that an ongoing outbreak of salmonellosis in the U.S. was linked to Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal produced at the Gridley plant.
In response, Kellogg’s voluntarily recalled all Honey Smacks manufactured at the facility since June 2017. Kerry initiated its own recall in July of 2018, for soy honey clusters noting that “an ingredient in this product was manufactured during the time-frame and on the same piece of equipment that was associated with a salmonella outbreak.”
Other brands potentially impacted by the Kerry recall were never publicly identified. While the source of the recall was not mentioned, in July 2018 General Mills recalled its Cheerios Protein Oats & Honey noting that the product may be contaminated with salmonella.
In total, the CDC identified 135 cases of salmonella across 36 states linked to the outbreak, with illness onset dates starting in March 2018. Thirty-four people were hospitalized, and no deaths were reported. Of the 84 people interviewed by the FDA at the time of the investigation, sixty-three (75%) reported eating Kellogg’s Honey Smacks
According to the FDA, symptoms of the illness include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps that can last several days. The illness can be spread by food handlers who do not wash their hands and/or surfaces or tools they use between food preparation steps or when people eat raw or undercooked foods.
“Food safety professionals cannot conceal potentially dangerous problems from customers or government regulators,” said principal deputy assistant attorney general Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s civil division, in a statement. “The department will continue to work with its law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who engage in such conduct.”
The FDA has been under scrutiny by both consumers and Capital Hill for what has been accused of slow response times to food safety issues. In part to address these concerns, last week FDA Commissioner Robert Califf proposed an agency-wide restructuring plan, which would create a new Human Foods Program with a dedicated Deputy Commissioner. This follows December’s release of the Foodborne Outbreak Response Improvement Plan (FORIP), which a press release at the time called “an important step that the FDA is taking to enhance the speed, effectiveness, coordination, and communication of outbreak investigations.” FORIP stemmed from the FDA’s 2020 New Era for Smarter Food Safety Blueprint.
Earlier this year, former Kerry quality assurance director Ravi Kumar Chermala pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of causing the introduction of tainted food into interstate commerce, according to the DOJ. Chermala admitted to directing subordinates at the Gridley facility to not report certain information to Kellogg’s regarding the conditions of the plant between June 2016 and June 2018.
As reported by the Associated Press, Kerry shuttered the doors of its Gridley facility in December 2018, claiming “the demand for cereal has dropped.” Approximately 115 employees were impacted by the closure.
Chermala is slated to be sentenced on February 16. Kerry is scheduled to be sentenced on March 14.
