Tuesday, July 26, 2011

EOC: Beech-Nut Corporation Apple Juice Scandal

Success, profits, and competitiveness are great part of the business dynamics but how a company or corporation go about achieving their ultimate goal may come at a great price for some.  This is the case for Beech-Nut Corporation who in the 1890's had established itself as a meatpacking company but transitioned in the 1960's into the baby food market place in which Gerber Corporation at the time had been leading. From its origins as a meatpacker in 1891 to its modern status as a diversified food manufacturer, the company had built a reputation for pure, natural, high-quality products. In an effort to save money the Beech-Nut Corporation switched to a new juice concentrate supplier, who provided a less expensive apple juice concentrate. The new supplier would eventually become known as Universal Juice. The disproportion between Beech-Nut’s 1977 manufacturing budget of over $50 million a year and the meager $250,000 saved per year due to the decision to switch suppliers may seem extreme, but the repercussions that followed this executive decision would serve as a major turning point in the world of white-collar crime. When Beech-Nut was found to have marketed apple juice that contained virtually no apple juice, the scandal caused the company long-term damage. More importantly, perhaps, the actions of the managers at Beech-Nut were called into question.  On July 29, 1982, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified Beech-Nut that samples taken from supermarket shelves had been found to be adulterated. In August 1982 the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets came to the same conclusions as the FDA.  In September 1982 Hoyvald orchestrated the shipment to and eventual sale of 26,000 cases in the Caribbean  . Approximately 23,000 cases had been trucked from the company’s San Jose, California, plant to Galveston, Texas. In Galveston the cases were loaded on ships and shipped to the Dominican Republic and subsequently sold at a 50 percent discount  . The sale of the appleless apple juice product earned the Beech-Nut Corporation approximately $60 million over a ten-year period 



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