Today, I spent the day talking to a father of a 38 year old, mother of two, who died, and the husband of a woman who died after nearly 50 years of marriage. The common denominator? They both ate Jensen Farms Frontera cantaloupe, audited by PrimusLabs and sold at grocery stores in the Denver area.
So, after once again spending time with victims of yet another outbreak of foodborne disease who are advocating for justice for themselves and family members, I thought again why prosecutors seem so reluctant to charge those who poison us with food. As I have said far too often, in nearly two decades of representing families impacted in foodborne outbreaks large and small, criminal prosecutions of those who poison us are rare. It is not because the laws do not exist. So why is that?
Congress passed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938 in reaction to growing public safety demands. The primary goal of the Act was to protect the health and safety of the public by preventing deleterious, adulterated or misbranded articles from entering interstate commerce. Under section 402(a)(4) of the Act, a food product is deemed “adulterated” if the food was “prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health.” A food product is also considered “adulterated” if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance, which may render it injurious to health. The 1938 Act, and the recently signed Food Safety Modernization Act, stand today as the primary means by which the federal government enforces food safety standards.
Chapter III of the Act addresses prohibited acts, subjecting violators to both civil and criminal liability. Provisions for criminal sanctions are clear:
Felony violations include adulterating or misbranding a food, drug, or device, and putting an adulterated or misbranded food, drug, or device into interstate commerce. Any person who commits a prohibited act violates the FDCA. A person committing a prohibited act “with the intent to defraud or mislead” is guilty of a felony punishable by not more than three years or fined not more than $10,000 or both.
A misdemeanor conviction under the FDCA, unlike a felony conviction, does not require proof of fraudulent intent, or even of knowing or willful conduct. Rather, a person may be convicted if he or she held a position of responsibility or authority in a firm such that the person could have prevented the violation. Convictions under the misdemeanor provisions are punishable by not more than one year or fined not more than $1,000, or both.
The legal jargon aside, if you are a producer of food and sell adulterated food, you can (and should) face fines and jail time.