Hudson Foods Inc.

Hudson Foods Inc. and two former employees entered “not guilty” pleas Jan. 5 to federal charges that they lied during a government investigation that led to the largest meat recall in history.

The company, which was purchased by Tyson Foods Inc. after the recall, and Brent Wolke, who was plant manager at the Columbus, Neb., plant where the tainted meat was produced, and Mark Gregory, quality control director for Hudson, were indicted in U.S. District Court in Omaha, Neb.

The charges stemmed from an outbreak of E. coli poisoning in August 1997 that ultimately resulted in the recall of 25 million pounds of ground beef that had been processed at Hudson’s Columbus plant.