Ferrara Candy Company, Chicagoland’s maker of Lemonheads, Atomic Fireballs and other iconic sweets, has filed a lawsuit against the maker of Red Vines licorice, claiming that cases of Red Vines bought from American Licorice Company were found to be infested with rice weevils at Ferrara’s Bolingbrook facility.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Aug. 31 against the Indiana-based Red Vines manufacturer, states that the insect-infested licorice shipments have cost Ferrara nearly $1.8 million in damages since the weevils were discovered in March.
Red Vines packets were used by Ferrara for a Kiddi Mix variety bag that includes Lemonheads and other candies purchased from other vendors, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states that Ferrara “received consumer complaints about infested Red Vines packets in Kiddi Mix” on March 27 and March 31, a few weeks after a Ferrara packer noticed the weevils at its Bolingbrook facility.
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Ferrara representatives declined to comment on the litigation and the consumer complaints noted in the lawsuit.
American Licorice Company representatives did not return a call seeking comment on the litigation.
Ferrara’s complaint blames faulty licorice packaging for the weevil infestation and states that rice weevils feed on grains such as wheat, an ingredient in Red Vines.
Ferrara purchased roughly 43,000 cases of Red Vines from American Licorice in 2014 and 2015, according to the lawsuit.
Ferrara never had a known rice weevil presence before March 16, according to the lawsuit.
On that date, a Ferrara packer at the company’s Bolingbrook 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.
Ferrara contends in the lawsuit that American denied liability for the weevils and claimed the infestation likely happened during transport, and that they were not responsible.
Ferrara permanently halted distribution of Kiddi Mix containing Red Vines by the end of March and initiated a Kiddi Mix “market withdrawal directed to retail customers who likely had not already exhausted their stock of finished Kiddie (sic) Mix,” according to the lawsuit.
Ferrara alleges in the lawsuit that every infested Red Vines packet had a defective seal or cut in its packaging, and that no packet with intact packaging showed evidence of infestation.
Ferrara “suffered significant damages” due to the infested Red Vines and the use of defective packaging, the lawsuit alleges.
The company demanded in June that American Licorice compensate them, but American Licorice refused, according to the lawsuit.
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