Honey Smacks Maker Fined $19 Million for Unsanitary Practices
One of the companies that manufactures Kellog's Honey Smacks cereal faces a $19 million dollar fine, the largest criminal penalty ever imposed in a food safety case, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday.
Food and ingredient manufacturing company Kerry Inc. pleaded guilty to a charge that it manufactured breakfast cereal under insanitary conditions at a facility in Gridley, Illinois, that was linked to a 2018 salmonellosis outbreak.
The company agreed to pay a criminal fine and forfeiture amount totaling $19.228 million. A federal court must approve the settlement.
“Consumers depend on food manufacturers to take appropriate steps to ensure food safety,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department is committed to holding accountable those who fail to meet this obligation.”
“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 Assistant Commissioner Justin D. Green for the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Criminal Investigations. “We will continue to pursue and bring to justice those who put the public health at risk by allowing contaminated foods to enter the U.S. marketplace.”
The criminal information unsealed in the case alleges that Kerry manufactured Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal under insanitary conditions and distributed it in violation of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
According to the plea agreement, tests performed as part of Kerry’s environmental monitoring program found numerous instances of Salmonella in the environment at the Gridley facility.
One positive sample per month
During the time period June 2016 to June 2018, routine environmental tests detected Salmonella in the plant approximately 81 times, including at least one positive Salmonella sample each month. According to the plea agreement, employees at the Gridley facility routinely failed to implement corrective and preventative actions (CAPAs) to address positive Salmonella tests.
In June 2018, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that an ongoing outbreak of salmonellosis cases in the United States could be traced to Kellogg’s Honey Smacks cereal produced at Kerry’s Gridley facility. In response, Kellogg’s voluntarily recalled all Honey Smacks manufactured at the plant since June 2017.
The CDC eventually identified more than 130 cases of salmonellosis linked to the outbreak, with illness onset dates beginning in March 2018. The CDC did not identify any deaths related to the outbreak.
Salmonellosis can cause symptoms such as diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps that last several days in healthy adults. Absent prompt treatment, salmonellosis can cause severe dehydration and even death in infants, young children, the elderly, transplant recipients, pregnant women, and individuals with weakened immune systems.