Conagra Lawsuit: Major Cases, Verdicts, and Penalties

Conagra Brands has faced a long run of lawsuits covering product liability, food safety, consumer fraud, securities enforcement, wage claims, and environmental violations. Since 2000, the packaged foods company has racked up more than $201 million in penalties across 173 recorded violations, with headline matters including a $25 million popcorn lung jury verdict in 2026, a criminal guilty plea and $11.2 million fine over Salmonella-contaminated Peter Pan peanut butter, and a $45 million SEC accounting fraud settlement.¹

The $25 Million Pam Popcorn Lung Verdict

On February 4, 2026, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury unanimously awarded $25 million to Roland Esparza, a 58-year-old California man who alleged that years of inhaling fumes from butter-flavored Pam cooking spray caused bronchiolitis obliterans, the lung disease commonly called “popcorn lung.”² Esparza had used the spray regularly since the 1990s and argued the product contained diacetyl, a chemical tied to severe respiratory illness in microwave popcorn factory workers. The jury found Conagra negligent for failing to warn consumers and awarded the full $25 million in non-economic damages.³

The case, filed in 2020, named more than 35 defendants, with Conagra as the primary target.⁴ It has been described as the first popcorn lung verdict against a cooking spray manufacturer. Conagra said it was “disappointed” with the outcome, noted that its Pam Butter Flavor spray has been diacetyl-free since 2009, and said it intended to “pursue all available legal avenues to contest the verdict.”⁵ A separate coverage dispute with its insurer followed the judgment.⁶

Exploding Pam Cooking Spray Cans

A different Pam problem produced its own litigation wave. By late 2019, at least 33 lawsuits had been filed alleging that larger cans of Pam and similar Conagra sprays carried a faulty U-shaped vent system that could cause the cans to explode.⁷ The vents, introduced around 2016, were designed to release pressure when cans overheated. Plaintiffs alleged the vents could open during normal use and release flammable propane and butane near open flames.⁸

Injuries alleged in these cases were severe. Plaintiff Y’Tesia Taylor suffered second- and third-degree burns on 27 percent of her upper body, lung damage, blindness in one eye, and permanent scarring, and spent more than a week in a medically induced coma. Another plaintiff was airlifted to a burn center and spent 20 days in an induced coma. A pregnant woman was burned from her ankles to her head.⁷ Conagra discontinued the vented can design in early 2019 but did not issue a recall, and no settlements from these cases have been publicly reported.⁹

Peter Pan Peanut Butter Criminal Case

Conagra’s biggest food safety case grew out of a 2006–2007 nationwide Salmonella outbreak traced to a ConAgra plant in Sylvester, Georgia. The CDC confirmed more than 700 cases of salmonellosis, with thousands more estimated to have gone unreported. The contamination affected both Peter Pan and private-label peanut butter made at the facility.¹⁰

Prosecutors said ConAgra kept shipping peanut butter in late 2006 despite internal lab tests that twice detected Salmonella, and had also found positive results as far back as 2004. On December 13, 2016, ConAgra Grocery Products LLC pled guilty to one criminal misdemeanor count of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands ordered an $8 million fine and $3.2 million in asset forfeiture, for a total penalty of $11.2 million, then the largest ever imposed in a U.S. food safety criminal case.¹¹

The judge declined to order restitution, finding it wasn’t authorized under the applicable statute, though more than 150 victims had requested it. On the civil side, ConAgra had already paid $36 million in settlements to 6,810 people.¹¹

Banquet Pot Pie Salmonella Outbreak

A separate 2007 outbreak was tied to Banquet frozen pot pies. The CDC confirmed 401 illnesses across 41 states, with 128 hospitalizations. ConAgra recalled all pot pies from the implicated plant on October 11, 2007, after investigators isolated the outbreak strain from 13 unopened Banquet pies collected from patients’ homes. The recall reached store-brand pies sold under Great Value, Kroger, and Food Lion labels.¹²¹³ ConAgra attributed the illnesses to undercooking and revised its packaging with a “Must be cooked thoroughly” front-label warning and instructions to use a food thermometer.

SEC Accounting Fraud Settlement

In July 2007, ConAgra paid $45 million to settle SEC fraud charges. The agency alleged that from 1999 through 2001, ConAgra used “cookie jar” reserve accounts to manipulate earnings and cover unrelated losses. In fiscal year 1999 alone, those practices overstated reported income by 15 percent. A separate scheme at subsidiary United Agri-Products involved premature revenue recognition in fiscal year 2000; forensic testing found that roughly 40 percent of sampled deferred delivery sales, worth over $247 million, were fraudulent. Without the improper accounting, ConAgra would have missed Wall Street consensus estimates in at least six of eleven quarters during the period.¹⁴

ConAgra settled without admitting or denying the allegations. The $45 million went into a Fair Fund for harmed investors, and the company accepted a permanent injunction against future antifraud and reporting violations, an independent accounting compliance review, and a restatement of results for fiscal years 1999 through 2005.¹⁴

Wesson Oil “100% Natural” Class Action

Conagra spent years defending consumer class actions over labeling Wesson cooking oils as “100% Natural” while the products contained genetically modified ingredients. Eleven state consumer classes were consolidated as multidistrict litigation in the Central District of California under Judge Cormac J. Carney, in a case captioned Briseno v. ConAgra Foods, Inc.¹⁵

The settlement path was uneven. An earlier $8 million proposal was rejected by the court. A reworked $3 million deal received preliminary approval in November 2022, with a claims deadline of May 22, 2023. Class members received 15 cents per unit of Wesson Oil purchased, up to 30 units without a receipt. Conagra denied wrongdoing but had already dropped the “100% Natural” label by July 2017 and sold the Wesson brand to Richardson International in 2019.¹⁶

Wage and Hour Cases

Employment litigation has produced Conagra’s largest settled worker case. In February 2022, a federal judge in the Central District of California approved an $18 million settlement in Negrete v. Conagra Foods, Inc., resolving claims from approximately 8,200 California food-processing workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act and California wage law. After fees and expenses, class members were expected to receive an average of about $1,332 each.¹⁷

A newer, still-active case, Vanbuskirk v. Conagra Brands, Inc., was filed in 2023 in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Workers allege they were not paid for time spent donning and doffing sanitary clothing, handwashing, and sanitizing before and after shifts, in violation of the FLSA and Pennsylvania’s Minimum Wage Act.¹⁸

Environmental Penalty at the Waseca Plant

In 2023, Conagra settled with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency over air quality violations at its Birds Eye vegetable processing plant in Waseca, Minnesota. Between 2020 and 2022, the facility exceeded its hydrogen sulfide permit limits more than 2,500 times, producing rotten-egg odors in the area.¹⁹ Conagra paid a $1.25 million civil penalty and put more than $7 million into new air filtration equipment, piping, pumping stations, and a modern waste-treatment system. It also agreed to share the technology with other Minnesota food processors. No further violations have been reported since the upgrades.²⁰

COVID-19 Worker Death Suit

Worker Rigoberto Ruiz sued Conagra after alleging he contracted COVID-19 at a Birds Eye plant in Darien, Wisconsin, because the company did not enforce masking, and that he then transmitted the virus to his wife, Martha Amador de Ruiz, who died. Ruiz alleged the illness also left him disabled and unable to speak.²¹ Conagra invoked the federal PREP Act as a shield. In June 2022, a federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin dismissed the last remaining negligence claim, ruling that letting it proceed could create “potentially unlimited” employer liability.²²

Current Consumer Class Actions

Conagra continues to draw consumer class actions focused on labeling and advertising:

In November 2024, Conagra agreed to settle Bohen v. Conagra Brands in the Northern District of Illinois, a class action alleging that “certified sustainable” labels on Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s frozen fish were false. Final terms had not been publicly disclosed as of late 2024.²³
A June 2024 class action alleges that certain Van de Kamp’s and Mrs. Paul’s frozen fish products are inflated with “industrial filler” and extra water.¹⁸
A November 2023 proposed class action alleges that certain Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli and Lasagna products are falsely marketed as containing “no preservatives.”¹⁸
In September 2023, Conagra recalled more than 245,000 pounds of Banquet-brand frozen chicken strips over potential plastic contamination after a consumer reported an oral injury. O’Sullivan v. Conagra Brands, filed in New York, alleges the recall was inadequate.²⁴

In late 2024, a securities investigation was announced after Conagra disclosed a “manufacturing disruption” at its Hebrew National hot dog plant that contributed to a sales decline and roughly an 8 percent drop in the stock price. As of 2025, no formal class action complaint had been filed and a law firm was still seeking lead plaintiffs.¹⁴

Total Penalties Since 2000

According to the Good Jobs First Violation Tracker, Conagra Brands has accumulated more than $201 million in penalties across 173 recorded violations since 2000. Consumer protection is the largest category at roughly $105 million, driven by two major matters. Financial offenses come next, largely the $45 million SEC settlement. Employment violations total about $26 million across 18 records; 121 safety-related records, mostly OSHA workplace safety matters, add up to about $13 million; and 31 environmental violations total roughly $12 million.¹

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Good Jobs First Violation Tracker. Conagra Brands
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AboutLawsuits. Pam Cooking Spray Popcorn Lung Damage Trial 25M Verdict
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CCH Product Liability. Esparza v Conagra Brands Verdict
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UniCourt. Roland Esparza vs The Vons Companies Inc
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Chicago Tribune. Pam Cooking Spray Conagra Lung Disease
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Westlaw. Conagra Brands Inc v Travelers
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NBC Miami. More Victims Sue Conagra Over Exploding Cans of Pam Cooking Spray
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Schmidt Law. Pam Cooking Spray Lawsuit
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6ABC. Lawsuits Allege Danger of Cooking Spray Can Explosions
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U.S. Department of Justice. ConAgra Grocery Products
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10TV. Tainted Peanut Butter Case Ends 11.2 Million Penalty
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CDC. Multistate Outbreak of Salmonella Infections Associated With Frozen Pot Pies
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CIDRAP. ConAgra Recalls Pot Pies Salmonella Cases Rise
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SEC. SEC Litigation Release No. 20206
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Harvard Law Review. Briseno v ConAgra Foods Inc
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CNET. How to Get Money From Wesson Oil False Advertising Settlement
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Bloomberg Law. Conagra Workers Finalize 18 Million Deal in Wage Breaks Suit
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ClassAction.org. Conagra Brands Inc
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MPR News. Conagra’s Waseca Plant Fined for Releasing Too Much Hydrogen Sulfide
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KROC News. 7 Million Upgrade to Waseca Food Plant for Pollution Violations
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WISN. Worker Sues Food Packaging Plant Alleges Wife Died From COVID-19
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Law360. Conagra Gets Last Claim Nixed in COVID-19 Death Suit
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ClassAction.org. Conagra Agrees to Settle Seafood Sustainability Class Action Lawsuit
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ClassAction.org. Banquet Frozen Chicken Strips Recall Lawsuit Filed in New York