Kern Foods to Pay $130,000 to Settle Law Suit

Kern Foods Inc. agreed Thursday to pay nearly $130,000 in penalties to settle a consumer protection civil suit filed by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office over alleged unsanitary conditions at a City of Industry plant.

In announcing the negotiated settlement, the prosecutor’s office noted that it knew of no cases of food contamination or illness resulting from the conditions and that the company, which produces fruit juices, nectars and tomato products, was not admitting any wrongdoing.

Kern Foods, which has plants throughout California, recently sold the City of Industry plant to another corporation that has completely overhauled it to rectify what the district attorney’s office said was “a pattern of deterioration and unsanitary conditions in the past few years.”