According to the Department of Justice, Abuelito Cheese Inc. a/k/a “El Abuelito Cheese,” a distributor of food products located in Paterson, New Jersey, pleaded guilty today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cari Fais in Newark federal court to an Information charging the company with introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Abuelito manufactured food products, including soft, fresh cheese known as queso fresco, at its facility in New Jersey. It distributed products, including queso fresco, within New Jersey and to neighboring states. In February 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted an inspection of Abuelito’s facility and alerted the company to the presence of non-pathogenic Listeria innocua and Listeria grayi in its facility. In June 2020, the FDA issued a Warning Letter to Abuelito, expressing serious concerns regarding alleged Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) violations, and warning that conditions in the company’s facility were conducive for pathogenic Listeria monocytogenes. Abuelito’s products were ultimately linked to a February 2021 outbreak of listeriosis that resulted in at least 13 hospitalizations and one death across four states.
The offense carries a maximum potential penalty of 5 years of probation, and a fine of $500,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest. Sentencing is scheduled for October 15, 2026.
Major FDCA Food Company Criminal Prosecutions
1. Kerry Inc. (2023) — Kellogg’s Honey Smacks / Salmonella
Charge: Misdemeanor Kerry Inc. pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of distributing adulterated cereal branded as Kellogg’s Honey Smacks at its Gridley, Illinois facility. The outbreak infected 135 people across 36 states, resulting in 34 hospitalizations. Kerry agreed to pay a $19.228 million criminal fine and forfeiture — the largest-ever criminal penalty following a criminal conviction in a food safety case, according to the DOJ. No jail time for the company; however, Kerry’s Director of Quality Assurance, Ravi Chermala, pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts and was separately sentenced.
2. Peanut Corporation of America (2015) — Salmonella
Charge: Felony Stewart Parnell was convicted on 72 counts of fraud, conspiracy, and introducing adulterated foods into interstate commerce and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. Michael Parnell was sentenced to 20 years. The Parnells were found guilty of having actual knowledge of and facilitating the spread of Salmonella contamination.
3. Blue Bell Creameries (2020) — Listeria
Charge: Misdemeanor Blue Bell Creameries pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of distributing adulterated ice cream in violation of the FDCA and agreed to pay a $17.25 million forfeiture, as well as an additional $2.1 million to resolve civil False Claims Act allegations involving product sold to federal facilities. Blue Bell failed to recall product or communicate potential contamination after receiving notification of positive Listeria tests, and only recalled product after hospitalizations and deaths occurred.
4. Chipotle Mexican Grill (2020) — Multiple Foodborne Illness Outbreaks
Charge: Misdemeanor Chipotle was ordered to pay $25 million to resolve criminal charges related to the company’s involvement in foodborne illness outbreaks that sickened more than 1,100 people between 2015 and 2018. No executives faced jail time.
5. ConAgra Grocery Products (2015/2016) — Peter Pan Peanut Butter / Salmonella
Charge: Misdemeanor ConAgra Grocery Products LLC pleaded guilty to a criminal misdemeanor charge for the shipment of contaminated peanut butter linked to a 2006–2007 nationwide Salmonella outbreak. The company was sentenced to pay an $8 million criminal fine and forfeit an additional $3.2 million in assets. No individuals were jailed.
6. Quality Egg LLC / DeCoster (2014) — Salmonella
Charge: Felony + Misdemeanor Quality Egg pled guilty to two felonies — bribing a USDA inspector and introducing misbranded eggs into interstate commerce with intent to defraud — and one misdemeanor for introducing adulterated eggs into commerce. The company paid $6.8 million. The DeCosters each pled guilty to misdemeanor violations as responsible corporate officers.
7. Jensen Farms (2014) — Cantaloupe / Listeria
Charge: Misdemeanor Owners Eric and Ryan Jensen pled guilty to charges of shipping cantaloupe they knew was contaminated with Listeria, which caused at least 147 hospitalizations and 33 deaths. They were sentenced to five years’ probation and were together required to pay $150,000 in restitution. No jail time — though they were arrested in shackles, unusual for misdemeanor cases.
8. Roos Foods, Inc. (2016) — Cheese / Listeria
Charge: Misdemeanor Roos Foods pled guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the FDCA after its cheeses were associated with a Listeria outbreak that sickened eight people and killed one. The company was fined $100,000.
9. Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp. (1987) — Fake Apple Juice
Charge: Felony Beech-Nut pleaded guilty to 215 felony counts of shipping mislabeled juice with intent to defraud the public and agreed to pay a $2 million fine plus $140,000 in FDA investigative costs — described at the time as the largest fine ever paid under the FDCA by at least sixfold. Two executives — Hoyvald and Lavery — were convicted at trial and sentenced to a year and a day in jail.
10. Odwalla Inc. (1998) — Apple Juice / E. coli
Charge: Misdemeanor (16 counts) In 1998, in what was the first criminal conviction in a large-scale food-poisoning outbreak, Odwalla Inc. pleaded guilty to violating federal food safety laws and agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine for selling tainted apple juice that killed a 16-month-old girl and sickened 70 other people in several states in 1996. Odwalla pleaded guilty to 16 counts of unknowingly delivering “adulterated food products for introduction into interstate commerce” in the October 1996 outbreak, in which a batch of its juice infected with E. coli O157:H7 sickened people in Colorado, California, Washington, and Canada. The company also received five years’ probation. Federal officials described it as the biggest criminal fine in a food injury case in the history of the FDA at the time. It’s a particularly significant case not just for the fine, but because it was the first of its kind — establishing that companies could be held criminally liable for large-scale foodborne illness outbreaks even without proof of intentional wrongdoing. It set the precedent for most of the prosecutions that followed.