An outbreak of Salmonella Mbandaka involving 135 confirmed cases occurred in 2018 in 36 states with 35 hospitalizations. The source of infection was traced to Honey Smacks® cereal manufactured by Kerry Inc.  The outbreak resulted in the Kellogg Company recalling all Honey Smacks® made from 2017 onwards.  The outbreak strain was identified in unopened boxes of the cereal and from leftover product in the homes of patients in numerous states.

 Kerry Inc. no longer manufactures products for the Kellogg Company. Kerry Inc. agreed to a $19.2 million penalty as part of a federal plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.  The Company will be sentenced during mid-March.

Documentation relating to the case indicated that management of the plant and the Director of Quality Assurance were aware of the pathogen both in the environment of the production facility and in product but failed to implement corrective action.

Ravi Chermala Director of Quality Assurance for Kerry through September 2018 pleaded guilty to three federal misdemeanor counts of causing adulterated food to be distributed interstate.  Chermala was aware of isolation of Salmonella Mbandaka from more than 80 routine assays and according to evidence altered enrichment procedures to reduce the probability of detecting Salmonella.

It is inconceivable how Chermala was allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanors other than that his testimony was essential to obtaining conviction of his Company.  Knowingly distributing a product infected with a pathogen over an extended period and countenancing unhygienic production of a food product should be charged as a felony.  One might question the difference between the Kerry case and that of the Peanut Corporation of America that resulted in extensive jail terms for the co-owners and a prison sentence for their Director of Quality Assurance who was complicit in the deception and fraud.