Dive Brief:
- Orange Bakery Inc., bakery supplier for major retailers and foodservice distributors like Whole Foods, Sam's Club, Kroger and US Foods, has denied accusations that the company stopped doing food safety testing and falsified documents FSMA regulations require.
- The company filed a counterclaim, saying that plaintiff Chris Herr possesses Orange Bakery property, including confidential customer information and documents, which they demand he return.
- Orange Bakery also requested that the judge pursue gag orders on Herr, his attorney and anyone acting on his behalf.
Dive Insight:
These court moves are forceful and show a strong pushback against serious claims from the plaintiff. If the claims are true, any contaminated products could impact not only Orange Bakery, but the many retailers, foodservice distributors and brands for which it provides products.
Any Orange Bakery products needing to be recalled could turn into a similar scenario as CRF Frozen Foods earlier this year. A recall could continue to expand to more products from more brands and retailers as time goes on. Any contaminated products could also potentially harm the reputations of brands associated with a recall, in addition to endangering consumers and making it difficult for health officials to track down the source and all contaminated products, according to the lawsuit.
The claims in this case are also compelling in the context of FSMA regulations about to take effect for larger manufacturers in the coming weeks. FSMA requires extensive risk assessment, food safety testing and documentation, and claims of falsifying some of this documentation could become more common as a result.