CONAGRA TO PAY $11.2M OVER TAINTED PEANUT BUTTER

A ConAgra subsidiary pleaded guilty Tuesday and agreed to pay $11.2 million — including the largest criminal fine ever imposed for a foodborne illness in the United States — to resolve a decade-long criminal investigation into a nationwide salmonella outbreak blamed on tainted peanut butter.

ConAgra admitted to a single misdemeanor count of shipping adulterated food. No individuals at the leading food conglomerate faced any charges in the 2006 outbreak, which sickened at least 625 people in 47 states.

Disease detectives traced the salmonella to a plant in rural Sylvester, Ga., that produced peanut butter for ConAgra under the Peter Pan label and the Great Value brand sold at Walmart. In 2007 the company recalled all the peanut butter it had sold since 2004.

Regulators slap curbs on Wells Fargo for “living will” plan. Federal regulators

have slapped restrictions on Wells Fargo, finding that the big bank failed to adequately plug holes in the plan it would deploy if it fell into bankruptcy.

The move announced Tuesday by the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. added to the troubles of Wells Fargo. The bank has been gripped by a scandal over sales practices that brought numerous federal and state investigations, the resignation of its CEO and public outrage.

The regulators’ action related to the bank’s socalled “living will” plan is unrelated to the scandal over the opening of millions of unauthorized accounts by bank employees. The action bars Wells Fargo from setting up new international banking businesses or buying any nonbank subsidiaries.

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo was the only one of five major banks that failed to meet the regulators’ six-month deadline, set in April, for getting their insufficient disaster plans in shape.

Japanese brewer Asahi to buy East Europe beer brands for $7.8 billion.

Japanese brewer the Asahi Group said Tuesday it plans to buy five beer brands in Eastern Europe for $7.8 billion.

Asahi said Tuesday that the beer brands in the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania were owned by SABMiller before it was acquired recently by Belgium-based AnheuserBusch InBev, maker of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois.

Japanese companies like Tokyo-based Asahi have been aggressively expanding overseas as their home market shrinks.

Google’s self-driving car project gets new name: Waymo. The self-driving

car project that Google started seven years ago has grown into a company called Waymo, signaling its confidence that it will be able to bring robot-controlled vehicles to the masses within the next few years.

Instead of driving themselves and having to find a place to park, people will be chauffeured in robotcontrolled vehicles if Waymo, automakers and Uber realize their vision. Waymo’s name is meant to be shorthand for “a new way forward in mobility.”

The company will operate within Google’s parent company, Alphabet.