A former CEO of a peanut company is now facing 28 years behind bar after he ordered to ship peanut butter that were incompletely tested for salmonella. This led to a salmonella outbreak that killed over nine people. Two other executives face harsh jail time as well. This is by far the harshest sentence the U.S. authorities have given in connection with foodborne illnesses.
Seven years ago, a salmonella outbreak took nine innocent lives and hit over 700 people. The authorities traced the cause of the outbreak to be from peanuts. Further into the line of the investigation, they found out that the peanuts were manufactured in a Georgia factory, which was operated by the Peanut Corporation of America.
The outbreak itself was not as big as other outbreaks that happened in the past, the problem is, the outbreak could have been stopped. In an email sent by Peanut Corporation of America CEO, Stewart Parnell, one of the emails sent was to ship the incompletely tested peanuts. Before any product is shipped, they are tested for the foodborne illness, and when they come up positive, it is retested. But in this case Parnell in an email exchange received a notice that the results for the tests were delayed. Parnell replied with "Just ship it."
"Stewart Parnell absolutely knew that they were shipping salmonella-tainted peanut butter. They knew it, and they covered it up," Bill Marler, a food safety lawyer who represented some of the victims, said. The company completely denied the allegations that their products were tainted with salmonella before and during the outbreak.
The company is no longer running. Stewart Parnell asked for forgiveness and mercy from the people who suffered during the outbreak and for those who lost their loved ones. Parnell's brother, Michael Parnell was also convicted to 20 years in jail, along with another executive who got five years. Leave comments below on whether you agree with the verdict.
