Food Safety Net

The U.S. Justice Department on Oct. 28 announced that Alan Scott Huey, former senior vice president of SK Foods LP, has agreed to plead guilty to criminal conspiracy and will cooperate with a federal investigation into the company.

No date was announcefd for the plea, which requires approval from the U.S. District Court in Sacramento.

According to court records, Huey admitted falsifying records at SK Foods’ tomato processing plants to hide excessive amounts of mold and faked expiration dates to make the products appear fresher. Prosecutors accused SK Foods of shipping tainted or mislabeled products to at least 45 vendors since 2004.

Huey, 54, of Monterey, would be the eighth person to plead guilty as a result of the federal probe into the company’s food safety and selling practices.

The FBI raided SK Foods’ tomato plants in April 2008, and a federal lawsuit four months later accused the firm of bribing buyers at food processing companies to buy its tomato paste at inflated prices, shutting out competitors. The paste is the base product for soups, salsas and other prepared foods.

Three buyers and a former SK Foods vice president have pleaded guilty in connection with the payoff scheme.

SK Foods later filed for bankruptcy and sold its canneries to Olam International Limited, based in Singapore.