When Peanut Corporation of America files for Chapter 7, what happens to all claims for damages from the Salmonella outbreak?

February 23rd, 2009

Chapter 7 is also known as liquidation or the converting of a company?s assets into money to pay creditors, or a straight bankruptcy.

The following case is a $13 million settlement for damages awarded from an individual food borne illness case that resulted in.

This unfortunate incident actually occurred approximately nine years ago at a Sizzler restaurant. The settlement was with the company?s meat supplier and others according to court records. Evidently, Brianna Kriefall did not even eat meat. She actually ate watermelon that had touched the tainted meat and passed away a week later. Additionally, one hundred and forty other people became ill from the outbreak in two sizzlers.

Today there is still a lawsuit ongoing where the national Sizzler chain and an insurance company are suing Excel Corporation a meat producer that is a subsidiary of Cargill Inc.

Beyond the settlement listed the actual legal and other expenses associated with this case may never be known, but with retail industry net profit averaging about 3.4% you can bet the impact on earnings to be significant for some CEO.

Beyond the obvious social costs associated with responsibility and culpability in the sale and consumption of tainted foods, the potential for huge litigation costs can put your company at risk for years after an incident actually happened.

It is important to know where your products come from with a complete trail to the country origin as well what your suppliers are doing in the way of certifications such as GFSI and SQF to insure the quality of the food chain for retailers and their consumers.

We look forward to your comments

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