Community Corner
Bugs Found in Bolingbrook Candy Facility: Lawsuit
Ferrara Candy Company alleges the bugs were brought in through an order of Red Vines from an Indiana company.
Ferrara Candy Company has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Indiana-based American Licorice Company for allegedly shipping Red Vines infested with rice weevils to its Bolingbrook facility.
According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, packets of Red Vines were used by Ferrara for a Kiddi Mix variety bag. The rice weevil infestation came to light when a worker noticed the bugs at the Bolingbrook facility.
On (March 16), a Ferrara packer at the company’s Bolingbrook (facility) noticed the insects on the metal plate underneath a conveyor belt used for packing Kiddi Mix bags, the lawsuit alleges.
An inspection the following day of bulk Red Vines cases revealed rice weevil infestations, the lawsuit states, with the bugs also found in Red Vines packets already placed in packed Kiddi Mix bags.
Inspectors also “found evidence of multigenerational presence of rice weevils,” the lawsuit states.
“Rice weevils were using the licorice as a breeding medium…suggesting possibly three generations of the insect were living in the packet,” according to the lawsuit, as reported by the Tribune.
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