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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe retailer, a subsidiary of Dollar Tree was fined $41.6 million, \u201cthe largest-ever monetary criminal penalty in a food safety case,\u201d the Justice Department said in a statement<\/a> Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Family Dollar and Dollar Tree will also be under robust corporate compliance and reporting requirements for the next three years, according to the DOJ<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen consumers go to the store, they have the right to expect that the food and drugs on the shelves have been kept in clean, uncontaminated conditions,\u201d Benjamin Mizer, acting associate attorney with the DOJ, said in the statement. \u201cWhen companies violate that trust and the laws designed to keep consumers safe, the public should rest assured: The Justice Department will hold those companies accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Family Dollar\u2019s rat and mice problem goes back to 2020 when the US Food and Drug Administration issued an inspection report<\/a> describing a distribution facility operated by the discount chain in Arkansas as dirty and rat-infested, and where merchandise including human and animal food was stored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The inspectors noted in that report of observing \u201crodent evidence, including live rodents, dead rodents of various states of decay, rodent excreta pellets \u2026 gnawings, nesting, and odors indicative of rodents throughout the entirety\u201d of the facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The agency said at the time that Family Dollar has been aware of the rodent problem since at least January 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet the retailer continued shipping goods from the warehouse until January 2022, when the FDA\u2019s investigation revealed the extent of the infestation. After the building was fumigated, exterminators found 1,270 dead mice, the DOJ said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2022, the FDA\u2019s discovery prompted Family Dollar to voluntarily recall<\/a> dozens of food items, cosmetics, drugs and other products and temporarily close more than 400 stores in six southern states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The DOJ said Family Dollar, which has more than 8,000 stores nationwide, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of causing FDA-regulated products to become adulterated while being held under insanitary conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n