O.K. Foods has filed a lawsuit against a company that supplies it with dry ice, claiming that the company's product contaminated more than 300,000 pounds of O.K. Foods poultry.
The lawsuit, O.K. Foods Inc. v Continental Carbonic Products, Inc., was filed in a federal court in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on February 15.
In the suit, O.K. Foods alleges that it had discovered traces of material resembling dark or black plastic on its chicken products, and that the dark foreign material found on the chicken came from a defective wear band on products it purchased from Continental Carbonic Products, reported the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
Upon discovering the foreign matter, O.K. Foods condemned 303,251 pounds of poultry products suspected to be contaminated by the material. The company further estimated that it had to absorb at least $516,740 as a result of the contamination.
O.K. Foods alleges it made several requests to be reimbursed by Continental Carbonic Products for its losses, but the defendant allegedly refused to issue a reimbursement.
Attorney J.R. Carroll of Kutak Rock LLP filed the complaint on behalf of OK Foods.
A subsidiary of Mexican poultry company Industrias Bachoco, O.K. Foods is the 17th largest broiler company in the United States, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database. In 2017, O.K. Foods processed 13.88 pounds of ready to cook chicken on a weekly basis. It employs about 4,050 people and has two slaughter plants, two further processing plants, two hatcheries and two feed mills.
Bachoco is ranked as the ninth largest poultry company in the world.
According to Continental Carbonic Products’ website, the company specializes in the manufacture and distribution of dry ice and liquid carbon dioxide and is the largest distributor of dry ice blasting equipment in the United States. The company has 47 dry ice distribution facilities and 1 liquid carbon dioxide facility.
