A Bay Area-based sandwich producer that sells products through stores across the country in Wal-Mart and Costco reached a settlement with three Southern California district attorneys after it was caught selling sandwiches that weighed less than advertised.
Raybern Foods, of Hayward, paid more than $168,000 in civil penalties and various other cost recovery fines to the Santa Barbara, Riverside, and Ventura counties district attorneys’ offices. The three counties launched a joint investigation after Santa Barbara County Weights and Measures Division inspectors discovered the disparity between actual sandwich weight and what was listed on the packaging.
Investigators ultimately found 1,170 sandwiches in violation of net-weight labeling requirements and ordered the items to be taken off the market.
Raybern Foods says it makes more than a million sandwiches a week, according to the Associated Press. Raybern did not return requests seeking comment by the Sun’s press time.
A press release issued by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office on Oct. 26 stated the violations harmed consumers by selling them a falsely advertised product. Additionally, Raybern’s competitors were placed on an unleveled playing field because Raybern could lower “its costs by not complying with the law,” which allowed them to charge less for their products.
Raybern agreed to both take corrective action and implement a compliance program, which will include “automated check-weighing equipment,” according to the release.
The company paid more than $22,000 for investigation cost recovery for the three counties’ weights-and-measures divisions, as well as $30,000 in investigation costs for the three district attorneys’ offices.
Raybern also agreed to pay more than $105,000 in civil penalties to the three offices, along with another $10,000 to the Consumer Protection Prosecution Trust Fund.
This article appears in Nov 2-8, 2017.