Posted January 21, 2014
On Friday, the U.S. attorney prosecuting the criminal
case against Eric and Ryan Jensen recommended probation for the 2011 listeria
outbreak linked to cantaloupe from Jensen Farms, according to an article by The
Grower available here.
The U.S. attorney recommended five years probation for
each brother, after the brothers filed requests for probation, saying “they had
no knowledge that their fruit might be contaminated because a food safety
auditor had given their operation a superior rating.” The maximum possible sentence for each is six
years, one for each of the six criminal counts of “introducing an adulterated
food into the supply chain.”
An investigation by the CDC confirmed that 33 died and
147 were sickened due to listeria monocytogenes infections contracted from
Jensen Farms cantaloupe.
Sentencing is scheduled for January 28.
The probation requests “reference a pre-sentence
investigation report, which is not a public document, saying the probation
officer” who compiled the report “did not find any evidence the brothers were
aware their equipment or procedures were substandard,” according to an article
by The Packer available here.
Much of the evidence and arguments in the probation
requests are “included in the Jensen’ federal lawsuit against PrimusLabs, whose
parent company is Primus Group Inc.”
Three cases filed against PrimusLabs have been
dismissed, according to an article by Produce News available here. The dismissals were issued in California,
Wyoming federal court, and Oklahoma federal court.
In the Oklahoma case, Underwood v. Jensen Farms, No. 11-348 (U.S. Dist. Ct. E.D. Okla.,
decided December 31, 2013), the court determined that the “plaintiff could not
show that the auditor owed him a duty under Oklahoma law.”
The court stated, “the connection between the July
25, 2011 audit and the onset of Plaintiff’s illness [was] too remote both in
time and circumstance. Significantly,
Plaintiff failed to plead facts sufficient to claim that the cantaloupe would
not have been distributed if Primus had given Jensen Farms unsatisfactory audit
results. To impose a duty on auditors
absent a showing that such auditors maintained some control over the
distribution of the manufactured goods would be illogical and impose an
unreasonable burden on third-party auditors.”
Lexology, provides additional information on the case here.
For more information on food safety, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
