Former Peanut Company Exec Could Get Life Sentence In Deadly Salmonella Outbreak

By Laura Wagner / NPR

Published September 21, 2015 at 9:52 AM PDT

This story was published more than 9 years ago.

Former Peanut Corporation of America President Stewart Parnell faces life in prison for knowingly shipping salmonella-tainted peanut butter, which was linked to the death of nine people.

A federal judge in Georgia is considering whether to send the former owner of Peanut Corporation of America, Stewart Parnell, to prison for life. He was convicted of knowingly shipping salmonella-tainted peanut butter which has been linked to nine deaths. Another 714 people were sickened but survived.

Parnell and two former employees were convicted of felonies in the 2009 outbreak. Parnell faces up to 803 years in prison; his brother and food broker, Michael Parnell, along with plant manager Mary Wilkerson also await sentencing.

The Associated Press reports that the victims and the victims' families called for harsh punishments.

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"Jacob Hurley, who was 3 years old when peanut butter crackers made him severely ill, told the judge it would be OK for Parnell 'to spend the rest of his life in prison.'"

The punishments could be the harshest doled out in a series of cases dealing with food contamination and outbreaks.

In May, another peanut butter producer, ConAgra, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor criminal charge of violating the FDA protocol in connection with a salmonella outbreak. ConAgra agreed to pay a record fine of $8 million and forfeit $3 million more. No company executives were charged. According to the AP, ConAgra Chief Operations Officer Al Bolles said the company was unaware the peanut butter was tainted before it was shipped.

"We did not, and never will, knowingly ship a product that is not safe for consumers," Bolles said. "We've invested heavily in leading-edge food safety technology and practices over the past eight years, and we are thankful for all of the people who recognize that."

In April, two former egg executives, Jack and Peter Decoster of Quality Egg, were sentenced to three months in prison for knowingly shipping eggs with false processing and expiration dates that led to a 2010 salmonella outbreak. They were convicted on a misdemeanor charge of "introducing adulterated food" into commerce.

And last year, two cantaloupe farmers pleaded guilty to the same charge and received five years probation for their role in a 2011 listeria outbreak that killed 33 people.