In yet another setback for Parmalat, the US government said on Friday it would slap fines on the insolvent company for failing to pay several milk producers on time.
The move to collect late fees by the US Department of Agriculture comes amid mounting woes for Parmalat, the Italian food giant that collapsed late last year in a multibillion-euro accounting scandal.
In parts of the US north-east, several milk producers panicked this week when Parmalat failed to timely deliver checks for December shipments. More than 1,000 north-east dairy farmers send milk to Parmalat subsidiaries in New York and Wallington, New Jersey.
On Friday, field agents from the USDA's Agriculture Marketing Service were tallying the number of milk producers that received late payments, some of which were two days late and worth more than $20,000.
Becky Unkenholz, a Marketing Service public affairs officer, said she did not know the amount Parmalat would have to pay. As federal regulators of milk and other commodities, the agency demands fees if handlers pay late, she said.
"We will be issuing late fees to Parmalat," Unkenholz said, adding that such measures are not common.
"Most handlers are in compliance. This is very unusual."
A stream of Parmalat checks were delivered to Pennsylvania dairy farmers on Thursday, and the company has indicated it will deliver its next payment on time, according to state milk regulators.
Late fees are among the many charges facing Parmalat.
Prosecuters have accused company founder Calisto Tanzi, who is currently hospitalised in Milan, Italy, with masterminding a web of fraud, market rigging and false accounting.
And in the first death seemingly related to the scandal, on Friday, in the Italian town of Rubbiano di Solignano, a veteran employee of Parmalat's finance department died after jumping from a bridge in an apparent suicide.
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