Dive Brief:
- Michelle Myrter and her family's cheese firms, International Packing and Universal Cheese and Drying, pleaded guilty to mislabeling grated cheese as being parmesan and romano; The product contained only other cheeses and cellulose, a filler made from wood pulp.
- Per the plea, each company will forfeit $500,000. The federal judge in the case has not yet set a sentencing date, but Myrter's attorney believes she will probably receive probation.
- Myrter's charge was "aiding and abetting the introduction of misbranded and adulterated food into interstate commerce," and the companies each face a charge of "conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, a catch-all charge that often covers regulatory violations," according to the Associated Press.
Dive Insight:
Mislabeling litigation is rampant in the industry, with William Aossey Jr.'s sentence for misbranded Halal beef products being handed down just last week. The charges for Myrter and her companies involve mislabeled ingredients rather than plant establishment numbers.
But with federal prison stays being a go-to for food safety and mislabeling cases lately (Parnell brothers in PCA salmonella case, DeCosters in Quality Egg salmonella case), Myrter may at least be facing a few months in federal prison.
For the Department of Justice, the threat of harsher punishment has been its method of putting an end to food safety infractions. Prison sentences for executives could discourage similar infractions. On the FDA side, new FSMA rules have been rolling out over the last year.
With each food or beverage mislabeling case uncovered, consumers' distrust in the industrialized food grows. More rules and more punishment could help the industry restore that trust.