Family Dollar will pay Tennessee $1.125 million to settle a case about a warehouse in West Memphis, Arkansas, that was filled with rodents.
The money is part of a $41.7 million announcement made by the Department of Justice in February 2024.
A company owned by Dollar Tree, Inc. has decided to admit guilt to a minor crime. This crime involves allowing products regulated by the FDA to become unsafe while they were stored in unsanitary conditions, as reported earlier.
The state took the company to court for breaking the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act.
“Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said that when parents buy groceries for their kids, they shouldn’t have to worry about pests getting to the food first.” “No matter the family budget, whether at a discount shop or not, every Tennessean deserves trust in the food they buy.”
The probe started because of a complaint about rodents in the facilities made in 2022. The company kept sending out products from the warehouse until January 2022. This was after the Food and Drug Administration found signs of “live rodents, dead and decaying rodents, rodent droppings, urine, bad smells, and signs of gnawing and nesting in the building,” as stated in a news release from the Justice Department. The warehouse supplied 404 shops in Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
“When I joined Dollar Tree’s Board of Directors in March 2022, I was very upset to find out about the serious problems at one of Family Dollar’s locations,” said Dollar Tree Chairman and CEO Rick Dreiling when the settlement was revealed. “Since that time and even more directly when I assumed the job of CEO, we have worked diligently to help Family Dollar resolve this historical matter and greatly enhance our policies, procedures, and physical facilities to ensure it is not repeated.”
Dreiling left the company in November 2024 for personal reasons.
Leave a Comment