Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Our Blog,Outbreaks & Recalls on October 21, 2022
Judgement on Honey Smacks executive will happen soon, following discovery of unsanitary plant conditions and coverup.
Sentencing for former Quality Assurance Director, Ravi Kumar Chermala will take place on January 30, 2023 for three charges associated with unsanitary plant conditions and subsequent coverup at the Kerry, Inc plant producing the children’s breakfast cereal Kellogg’s Honey Smacks linked to the 2018 Salmonella poisoning outbreak that sickened at least 130 people.
Chermala was the Director of Quality Assurance at various Kerry, Inc. manufacturing plants, including the Gridley, Illinois Facility that manufactured Kellogg’s Honey Smacks breakfast cereal for the Kellogg Company. He held this role until September 2018.
On October 21, 2022, Chermala pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Jonathan E. Hawley in Peoria, Illinois for three misdemeanor charges of “causing the introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce.”
He admitted that between June 2016 and June 2018 he directed subordinates to not report certain information to the customer – Kellogg’s, about the conditions at the Gridley facility.
Additionally, Chermala admitted directing subordinates at the Gridley facility to alter the plants Quality Assurance (QA) program aspects that monitor for the presence of pathogens in the plant, which limited the facility’s ability to accurately detect unsanitary conditions.
These acts directly affected the facility’s ability to detect a problem which ultimately resulted in Salmonella contamination making its way into the food product and distributed into general commerce.
Decision makers, such as those in higher Quality Assurance roles, are the start of the safety process. The rules and policies created, implemented, and enforced by these positions are the trusted work that keeps the food product safe.
Creating ineffective plans and concealing potentially dangerous problems puts the food product and consumers at risk. Holding these decision makers explicitly accountable is the first step to enforcing the severity of these poor decisions. While in general, a company as a whole has been held responsible in the past, this case marks a crack down on the specific individuals with a role in the negligence.
“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. “The department will continue to work with its law enforcement partners to hold accountable those who engage in such conduct.”
“Today’s announcement reinforces that if an individual violates food safety rules or conceals relevant information, we will seek to hold them accountable,” said Special Agen in Charge Lynda M. Burdelik, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Chicago Field Office. “The health of American consumers and the safety of our food are too important to be thwarted by the criminal acts of any individual or company.”
Salmonella infection, can cause diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps in healthy adults with symptoms lasting from several days to a week in healthy adults. Absent prompt treatment, more severe symptoms may persist in more vulnerable populations. Such as infants, young children, the elderly, transplant recipients, pregnant women, and those with a weakened immune system. These severe symptoms range from severe dehydration and even death.
Most healthy individuals will recover fully without seeking medical attention. This means outbreak case counts are generally significantly smaller than the actual number of people impacted by tainted product.
Starting as early as March 3, 2018 people across several states began falling sick of salmonellosis, the infection caused by consuming food or drink contaminated with the harmful bacteria, Salmonella. As data started rolling in, a link between patient samples started to form.
Whole genome sequencing data from patient samples was uploaded to PulseNet, the foodborne illness database used by public health agencies. By June 14, 2018, 73 people across 31 states was infected with the same strain of Salmonella Mbandaka.
Based on patient interviews, the majority of people interviewed reported eating cold cereal in the week before they became ill. A good portion of that indicated eating Kellogg’s Honey Smack cereal. Those involved in the outbreak reported eating this brand and flavor of cereal more often than any other cereals or food items. Leading investigators to suggest that Kellogg’s Honey Smack cereal was the source of the outbreak. As a result, On June 14, 2018, the Kellogg Company issued a recall for the breakfast cereal.
As more cases were linked and Kellogg’s Honey Smack cereal was still heavy in the patient interview food questions, Health officials in several states collected samples from cereal boxes from retail locations and outbreak patient’s homes.
Laboratory testing identified the outbreak strain in cereal from a California retail location and in leftover cereal from homes in Montana, New York, and Utah.
Initially the recall was limited to “best if used by” dates of June 14, 2019 or earlier. Eventually all “best by” dates were included in the updated recall.
When the outbreak investigation finally closed September 26, 2018 the case count was 135 including 34 hospitalizations across 36 states. Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.
There is no database that tracks foodborne liability litigation at this time. Many times entities opt to settle before it gets to the point of a public trial. So tracking such activities is problematic. But notice the term “entities.”
What makes this case different from what you see in the news, is that an individual, as opposed to an entity such as a food manufacturer, retailer, or restaurant firm is the defendant. Oftentimes, the company takes on the full liability for the suit. In this case, criminal misdemeanor charges were presented to an executive directly for their roll in the outbreak.
This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Cody Matthew Herche and Senior Trial Attorney James T. Nelson of the Department of Justice, Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch. Unless rescheduled, former Quality Assurance Director, Ravi Kumar Chermala’s sentencing should take place on January 30, 2023.
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “Former Quality Assurance Director for Honey Smacks Facility Pleads Guilty,” check out the Make Food Safe Blog. We regularly update trending topics, foodborne infections in the news, recalls, and more! Stay tuned for quality information to help keep your family safe, while The Lange Law Firm, PLLC strives to Make Food Safe!
By: Heather Van Tassell (contributing writer, non-lawyer)