AUSTIN, Minn. – It’s being referred to as “sausage subterfuge” and “sausagegate”.
And it involves two food companies from Wisconsin and Minnesota.
A lawsuit filed by Austin, Minnesota-based Hormel Foods Incorported on Wednesday alleges a former Hormel employee left the company “with trade-secret recipes and market intelligence” and brought them to the Sheboygan Falls-based Johnsonville.
“Johnsonville appears to have undertaken a coordinated effort to interfere with Hormel’s employment relationships and obtain Hormel’s confidential, proprietary, and trade secret information,” reads the complaint, noting the sausage market is “increasingly competitive”.
A second employee allegedly tried to lure other Hormel employees to Johnsonville after he changed jobs.
Hormel is demanding the recipes be returned, seeking undisclosed monetary damages, and requesting a jury trial, according to court documents.
“Hormel Foods does not typically comment on pending litigation, but we do believe that our complaint speaks for itself,” a spokeperson for the company told WTMJ Friday.
Johnsonville did not respond to a request for comment on the suit by the time of this article’s publication.
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