An Iowa company has agreed to plead guilty to bribery and pay about $6.8 million in fines for selling eggs contaminated with salmonella that sickened 62,000 people and forced the recall of 550 million eggs in 2010, according to consent agreements filed in federal court.
Due to the massive nationwide salmonella outbreak, the payment would be made under terms of a plea agreement revealed at a federal court hearing in Sioux City, Iowa, USA Today reported.
After selling eggs mislabeled to hide how old they were, bribing a federal agriculture inspector at least twice to approve and allow poor-quality chicken eggs to be sold to the public, and introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce, Quality Egg LLC is expected to plead guilty on Tuesday morning.
"Company owners and executives Austin and Peter DeCoster also were expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce," Reuters reported. "Both men each face paying $100,000 fine and face up to a year in prison, according to the court filings."
"Austin 'Jack' DeCoster and his son Peter were once among the nation's largest producers of shelled chicken eggs. Attorneys for the men and the company could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday morning."
Immediately after new federal egg-safety rules had come online, the 2010 salmonella outbreak involving the DeCosters and their farms struck.
Producers were required to carry out more testing for salmonella and take other precautions after that.
"Plea agreements filed Monday indicate the company sold the tainted eggs for about eight months starting in January 2010," USA Today reported. "Prosecutors said there was no evidence that the DeCosters knew they were selling tainted products, but they ran the company and were responsible for it activities."
The case is U.S. v Quality Egg, LLC, Austin DeCoster and Peter DeCoster, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa, No. 14-cr-3024.
