- George Giles, 57, of Clarksdale, Missouri, worked at a Ventura Foods facility in St. Joseph, Missouri, from 1997 to 2003
- In a civil lawsuit filed in 2013 he claimed he was exposed to diacetyl, a chemical used in butter flavoring, causing him to develop a pulmonary disease
- On Monday Carmi Flavor and Fragrance Corp. agreed to a $5million settlement
A company has agreed to pay $5million to settle claims that its butter flavoring chemicals harmed the lungs of a worker who handled the product at a Missouri plant.
George Giles, 57, of Clarksdale, Missouri, worked for the Ventura Foods facility in St. Joseph, Missouri, from 1997 to 2003.
In a civil lawsuit filed in 2013 he claimed he was exposed to diacetyl, a chemical used in butter flavoring.
Giles claimed that the chemical sickened him with a pulmonary disease.
On Monday Carmi Flavor and Fragrance Corp., of Commerce, California, agreed to the settlement.
A company has agreed to pay $5million to settle claims that its butter flavoring chemicals harmed the lungs of a worker who handled the product at a Missouri plant (stock image)
Carmi Flavor and Fragrance Corp., of Commerce, California, agreed to the settlement. The company is part of Ventura Foods, whose facility is pictured above
A Buchanan County jury will consider damages paid to Giles.
Circuit Judge Daniel Kellogg issued sanctions on September 1 against the Carmi Corp. for its failure to produce items, including insurance policies, in discovery.
‘This failure and dilatory disclosure follows a pattern of negligence at best, and willful contempt at worst, warranting sanctions,’ Kellogg stated.
The judge struck Carmi’s pleadings from the record, granted a judgement to the plaintiff by default and set the case for trial on only the issue of damages.
The case was not directly connected the the cluster of lung issues that resulted in lawsuits against a company that makes microwave popcorn in Joplin, Missouri.
Those ‘popcorn lung’ lawsuits also revolved around the chemical diacetyl.