SAN JOSE — A major food distribution company has been ordered to pay nearly $20 million in fines and restitution after an investigation revealed the company was improperly storing perishable foods.
Sysco Corporation, the largest U.S. food distribution company, along with its seven California affiliates, regularly kept perishable foods such as seafood, milk and raw meat in unrefrigerated sheds, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office. Prosecutors say Sysco food trucks would deliver small food orders to unrefrigerated and unsanitary sheds and then later, the food would then be picked up by employees who would use their personal cars to deliver the food to restaurants, hotels, hospitals and schools.
Sysco stopped those practices once they were revealed in an NBC Bay Area report, which led to a statewide investigation by the Department of Public Health.
“It is not a luxury for our food to be handled with the utmost professional care to ensure that it is not dangerous,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “That is your right and that is the law.”
Sysco agreed to pay $15 million in penalties, and more than $4 million in restitution, including a $1 million food contribution to food banks throughout California and $3.3 million for the cost of a five-year, statewide program that will fund food transportation inspectors. Sysco will also be required to develop a comprehensive food safety program to ensure that their former practices are not repeated.
Contact Katie Nelson at 408-920-5006 and follow her at Twitter.com/katienelson210.
