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Violation Tracker Individual Record

Company: Quality Egg LLC
Current Parent Company: Quality Egg
Penalty: $6,790,000
Year: 2015
Date: April 13, 2015
Offense Group: safety-related offenses
Primary Offense: food safety violation
Violation Description: The company owner, a top executive and their company, Quality Egg LLC, were sentenced in federal district court in Sioux City, Iowa in connection with the distribution of adulterated eggs. Austin "Jack" DeCoster, 81, of Turner, Maine, who owned Quality Egg, was sentenced to serve three months in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release, and fined $100,000. His son, Peter DeCoster, 51, of Clarion, Iowa, who was Quality Egg's chief operating officer, was also sentenced to serve three months in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release, and fined $100,000. Quality Egg was sentenced to pay a fine of $6.79 million and placed on probation for three years. All three defendants were ordered to make restitution in the total amount of $83,008.19. Quality Egg also agreed to forfeit $10,000 as part of its plea agreement with the government.
Level of Government: federal
Action Type: agency action
Agency: Food and Drug Administration referral to the Justice Department
Civil or Criminal Case: civil
HQ Country of Current Parent: USA
HQ State of Current Parent: Maine
Ownership Structure of Current Parent: privately held
Major Industry of Current Parent: food products
Specific Industry of Current Parent: food products
Source of Data: (click here)
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Current parent company note: Parent-subsidiary relationship is current as of the most recent revision listed in the Update Log.