Kraft Foods buyer gets prison sentence in tomato scandal

By Caroline Scott-Thomas

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Sk foods Tomato

A former Kraft Foods executive has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison for accepting bribes from Californian tomato product supplier SK Foods, becoming the first to be sentenced in the case.

Robert Watson pleaded guilty in January to accepting bribes between 2004 and 2008 from Randall Lee Rahal, then a sales broker for SK Foods. The bribes, which amounted to $158,000, were intended to ensure that Watson purchased tomato products only from SK Foods, thereby shutting out competition and keeping prices high.

SK Foods and its directors have not been accused of any crimes, but some of its employees have pleaded guilty, including Randall Lee Rahal, among others. Rahal admitted in December that he had offered bribes to purchasing managers at some of the country’s largest food companies.

Watson has also been ordered by Sacramento federal court US District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton to pay $1.85m to Kraft to remunerate the company for its losses, after he facilitated the sale of millions of pounds of tomato products at inflated prices.

Four others are still awaiting sentencing for their parts in the tomato scandal, including Rahal, as well as those who have admitted taking bribes from him – a former purchasing manager for B&G Foods, Robert Turner, and a former manager at Frito-Lay, James Wahl.

Jennifer Dahlam, a former record and business analyst at SK Foods, is also awaiting sentencing. She admitted to causing the introduction of adulterated and misbranded food onto the marketplace with intent to defraud, by mislabeling products that should have been thrown out due to their high mold content.

The lawsuit was filed against employees at SK Foods in August last year, accusing them of distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, price fixing, and mislabeling offences. The California-based company supplies about 15 percent of the bulk tomato paste and diced tomatoes supplied to American manufacturers of salsa, ketchup and juices.

Related news

Related products

show more

Consumer Attitudes on Ultra-Processed Foods Revealed

Consumer Attitudes on Ultra-Processed Foods Revealed

Content provided by Ayana Bio | 12-Jan-2024 | White Paper

Ayana Bio conducted the Ultra-Processed Food (UPF) Pulse survey, offering insight into consumers’ willingness to consume UPFs, as well as the variables...

 Four actionable steps to reduce allergen recalls

Four actionable steps to reduce allergen recalls

Content provided by FoodChain ID | 04-Oct-2023 | White Paper

Failing to mitigate allergen risks has serious consequences - not just for consumer safety, poor allergen procedures can also cause financial losses and...

Cracking Plant-Based Dairy Challenges with Potato

Cracking Plant-Based Dairy Challenges with Potato

Avebe | Recorded the 13-Jun-2023 | Webinar

Don’t let the idea of creating tasty plant-based dairy products intimidate you! Replacing animal - for plant-based ingredients can seem like a difficult...

Related suppliers

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars