Sickening greed: Peanut company boss jailed for 28 years over deadly salmonella outbreak
Verdict was the stiffest punishment ever handed out to a producer in a foodborne illness case in the US
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 22 September, 2015, 4:30pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 22 September, 2015, 4:30pm
Associated Press in Albany, Georgia
The trial of Stewart Parnell marked the first time US food producers stood trial on criminal charges in a food-poisoning case. Photo: AP
A former peanut company executive has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for his role in a deadly salmonella outbreak, the stiffest punishment ever handed out to a producer in a foodborne illness case in the US.
The outbreak in 2008 and 2009 was blamed for nine deaths and made hundreds more sick, and triggered one of the largest food recalls in US history.
Before he was sentenced, former Peanut Corporation of America owner Stewart Parnell listened as nine victims testified about the terror and grief caused by peanut butter traced to the company’s plant in southwest Georgia. Hours later, they left the courthouse applauding the sentence.
Experts say the trial of Parnell and two co-defendants a year ago marked the first time US food producers stood trial on criminal charges in a food-poisoning case. The company went bankrupt following the salmonella outbreak.
US Attorney Michael Moore of Georgia’s Middle District, whose office prosecuted the case, called it “a landmark with implications that will resonate not just in the food industry but in corporate boardrooms across the country.”
Stewart Parnell leaves a 2009 House panel hearing on a salmonella outbreak blamed on his company. Photo: Washington Post
A federal jury convicted Parnell, 61, of knowingly shipping contaminated peanut butter and of faking results of lab tests intended to screen for salmonella.
Tom Bondurant, one of Parnell’s defence attorneys, said 28 years prison would amount to a life sentence for his client. He plans to appeal the conviction and sentence.
“If you compare it with other food-safety criminal cases, it’s tremendously out of line,” Bondurant said.
One of the victims was 10-year-old Jacob Hurley, who was just three when he was stricken by salmonella from peanut butter crackers that left him vomiting and rushing to the toilet for nearly two weeks.
“I think it’s OK for him to spend the rest of his life in prison,” the boy told the judge.
Judge W. Louis Sands estimated Parnell faced up to 803 years in prison for his crimes, but said a punishment that severe would have been “inappropriate.” He didn’t elaborate.
“These acts were driven simply by the desire to profit and to protect profits notwithstanding the known risks” from salmonella, the judge said. “This is commonly and accurately referred to as greed.”
Federal investigators found a leaky roof, cockroaches and evidence of rodents at the plant, all ingredients for brewing salmonella. They also uncovered emails and records showing food confirmed by lab tests to contain salmonella was shipped to customers anyway. Other batches were never tested at all, but got shipped with fake lab records saying salmonella screenings were negative.
Emails prosecutors presented at trial showed that Parnell once directed employees to “turn them loose” after samples of peanuts tested positive for salmonella and then were cleared in another test. Several months before the outbreak, when a final lab test found salmonella, Parnell expressed concern to a Georgia plant manager, writing in an October 6, 2008, email that the delay “is costing us huge $$$$$.”
Parnell, who didn’t testify during his trial and stayed silent years ago when called before a congressional hearing, apologised to the courtroom full of victims and their relatives.
Speaking in a shaky voice and wearing a rumpled white shirt and khaki pants, Parnell acknowledged problems at his peanut plant, but he never addressed the emails and company records.
“I am personally embarrassed, humiliated and morally disgraced by what happened,” he said, adding, “I’m truly sorry for what happened.”
His brother, Michael Parnell, and the plant’s former quality control manager, Mary Wilkerson, were also convicted and face lesser sentences.
