Man gets close to 5 years for putting razor blades in pizza dough sold at Hannaford

Nicholas Mitchell (Police mugshot)

PORTLAND, Maine - A Dover, N.H., man was sentenced today in federal court for putting razor blades in pizza dough sold at Hannafords, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced on Thursday.

Nicholas Mitchell, 39, will spend four years and nine months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $229,611.92 in restitution to the victim of the offense. Mitchell pleaded guilty on June 24.

According to court records, Mitchell was an employee of a Scarborough company that manufactured pizza doughs that were supplied to Hannaford for resale to consumers. In approximately June 2020, Mitchell was fired.

On Oct. 5, 2020, Mitchell entered the Hannaford store in Saco and placed razor blades in several of the doughs that were for sale in the display case. Customers later purchased the tainted pizza doughs. When the customers opened the pizza doughs, they discovered the razor blades inside the doughs. When Hannaford learned of the tainted product, store personnel removed the remaining pizza doughs from the refrigerator case. During this process, a store employee discovered another dough with a razor blade in it.

Luckily, there were no reported injuries as a result of Mitchell's actions.

"Eliminating threats to the U.S. food supply is one of FDA's key missions," said Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey J. Ebersole, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations New York Field Office. "We will continue to investigate and bring to justice those who jeopardize the public health for personal or other motives."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Saco Police Department investigated the case, with assistance from the North Berwick and Dover, New Hampshire police departments.