The Rat Warehouse

The Defendant was president and chief executive officer of a national retail food chain operating hundreds of stores and multiple distribution warehouses across the eastern United States. In April 1970, the Food and Drug Administration sent the Defendant a personal letter after a twelve-day inspection of the company's Philadelphia warehouse found insanitary conditions including rodent activity and contamination of food held for interstate sale. The letter asked the Defendant to take corrective action. A subsequent inspection of the company's Baltimore warehouse in 1971 found the same conditions — rodent feces, nesting materials, and gnawing damage to food products. A third inspection in March 1972 showed only slight improvement. The Defendant was charged individually under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act for causing food held in interstate commerce to become contaminated. At trial, he acknowledged he was responsible for sanitation "in the entire operation of the company" but testified he had delegated those duties to dependable subordinates.