FBI probes Central Valley firm for racketeering — Yes, the problems with the food supply in the USA include corrupt practices.
American consumers paid inflated prices for tomato-based products such as sauces, soups and salsas, and in some cases they ate food that didn’t match the quality advertised on labels, because of corruption at a major Central Valley tomato processor, federal authorities said Wednesday.
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…prosecutors made it clear they were targeting the company as they announced a plea deal with a former sales broker for SK Foods who admitted he had bribed purchasing agents at some of the nation’s largest food companies, including Safeway and Kraft Food Inc., to secure their business.
I was amused at the “bribery test” as outlined in the article. Now you know!
In a sworn affidavit filed in August, FBI Special Agent Paul Artley said Rahal had paid more than $185,000 in bribes to purchasing agents at Safeway, Kraft, ConAgra, Frito-Lay, B&G Foods and Agusa….
According to the FBI, the former employee said Rahal had told him he identified customers open to bribes by dropping a $100 bill, then picking it up and saying, “You must have dropped this. Is it yours?”
Prosecutors said the bribes were designed to ensure that corporate customers chose SK Foods over its competitors and paid an inflated price.
The Safeway spokesperson said they knew nothing of these schemes. That’s probably true, but does anyone at Safeway ever notice how out-and-out crappy the tomatoes are? And could the lettuce be any more tasteless? Ugh. Get a clue.
Thanks for saving us from the evil tomato cabal FBI! Now, go find some real criminals, I hear Congress is still in session.
Doesn’t surprise me one bit. When I started my company, we couldn’t get our product on grocery store shelves unless we bribed the stock clerk. We have since switched to the wholesale market (which isn’t much better)
I want to “racketeer” her “tomatoes”. Yummy!
Hah!!! NOW I discover I’m a victim of a lifetime of corruption. Who knew lettuce was supposed to have taste? I thought it only had crunch. Now I’m pissed!!! Pass the arugula.
No wonder the Americans here love what I consider crappy vegetables, maybe these full of flavour vegetables here are much better than the ones grown in the USA.
Angel==we just don’t know any better.
Best example is “Red Delicious Apples” that got so genetically manipulated as a commercial product==for shipping, for aging, for color that it lost all its taste and texture leaving the road wide open for the Fuji.
I think Strawberries are on the same track right now. Haven’t tasted a good one except for the local farm in years. Big hard as apple, pinapple, sour tasting red pieces of plastic is what they are now.
I’m waiting for the bio revolution where food comes from a toothpaste tube===but tastes great.
Shouldn’t this story be on the “Rotten Tomatoes” Website ???
#6: I haven’t bought a “Red Delicious” apple in decades, for the reasons you mention. There are plenty of better apples out there, like Fuji and Jonathan.
#7: “Rotten Tomatoes” distinguishes between fresh and rotten flicks.
These brokers were mixing rotten tomatoes with a little fresh, and taking off with the cash. They deserve lots of rotten tomatoes.
bill dropping, shoe tapping, the fbi knows all the tricks..
I still don’t understand why we were never served tomatoes in Spain – it’s Strange.
# 10 brendal said, “I still don’t understand why we were never served tomatoes in Spain – it’s Strange.”
You mean those hard green things they call tomatoes?
That Tomato has a nice racketeer…
Yea’ I said it, I’m not proud of it, but hey…
This past summer, we grew our own tomatoes. But of course, during their harvest, that’s when retail tomatoes were the cheapest. So as the cold temps rolled around. Bang! Price went back up to over $3 a pound. I’m considering setting up a few cherry tomato plants in the basement, under a grow light. What makes little sense is why we’re getting Bananas for 59 cents a pound, from Central America. But domestically grown tomatoes cost five to six times as much. Where is McDonald’s getting their tomatoes from. Bet it doesn’t cost them as much as what we pay for them.
#10 – Brenda Lee
>> – it’s Strange.
They generally don’t serve tomatoes in the whiskerías, Miss Lee. You have to go to a legitimate place.
#6
Local Pineapples are being replace by a “new and improved” American version which literally tastes like canned pineapples rather than what they’re supposed to taste when they’re fresh.
Funny anecdote, I saw some Backpackers from the USA spreading some tomato paste over a loaf of bread, the tomato paste was made by a local company, the kids were just LOVING the damn thing.
Fresh produce here usually means that it’s full of flavour because it’s usually picked either ripe or almost ripe and then immediately sold at the markets.
#16
Game. Set. Match.
Reminds me of a 60 Minutes segment some years back where the federal inspectors who were rating the meat at the meatpackers were getting kickbacks to “upgrade” cuts from the grocery store grade to the restaurant quality grade.
And yet there are dinks out there who insist the “Free Market” doesn’t need any regulation and we should do away with the FDA.
I say, “Trust but verify.”
#13
I’m considering setting up a few cherry tomato plants in the basement, under a grow light.
Maybe Kopbusters can help out with the equipment