Goldn’n Plump Poultry Inc. of St. Cloud, Minn. is suing a supplier whose delivery of a product not approved for use in poultry cost the company at least $50,000. Wenda America of Naperville, Ill. is named as the defendant in the suit filed December 28 in Stearns County, Minnesota District Court.
According to the suit, Gold’n Plump had been purchasing Wenda’s WendaPhos 600 for use in some of its marinated chicken products since 2011. In May and June of 2012, Gold’d Plump received shipments of the product and discovered that, although all of the shipment was labelled WendaPhos 600, some of it was actually another product WendaPhos FI, which is not approved for use in poultry products by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Gold’n Plump workers noticed something was amiss when some of the bags of product were larger and heavier than others. Three days after being notified of the weight discrepancy, Wenda told Gold’n Plump that the heavier bags were WendaPhos F1, according to the suit. By this time, thousands of pounds of product had been processed using the unapproved ingredient and had to be destroyed. Under federal law, products that bear the USDA legend and contain ingredients that are nor approved are misbranded.
Gold’n Plump is suing Wenda for breach of contract and negligence and is seeking at least $50,000 in damages. Gold’n Plump is the country’s 18th largest producer of poultry, accounting for about 1 percent of all ready-to-cook chicken produced and sold nationwide, according to the company’s website
