Peanut company CEO sentenced to 28 years for salmonella outbreak

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

The former owner of Peanut Corporation of America was sentenced in federal court on Monday to 28 years in prison for his role in a salmonella outbreak that was linked to nine deaths.

In a rare case of criminal prosecution linked to food contamination, Stewart Parnell, the former owner of Peanut Corporation of America, and his brother, Michael Parnell, who was a food broker on behalf of the company, were convicted on federal conspiracy charges in September 2014 for knowingly shipping salmonella-tainted peanuts to customers.

Contamination at the company's plant in Blakely, Georgia, led to one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history and forced the company into liquidation.

(Reporting by Rich McKay; Editing by David Adams and Sandra Maler)


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/21/us-usa-georgia-salmonella-idUSKCN0RL24H20150921

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US | Mon Sep 21, 2015 5:57pm EDT
ALBANY, GA. | BY RICH MCKAY

Short article. No more at link.

[4139]

1. Where's the prosecution of GM for the 100 deaths from the ignition switches?

[jberryhill]

2. I have waited for this day a long time

There is a special place in Hell for Stewart Parnell.

It takes patience to see these things through to their conclusion, and the courts don't operate on the same timeline as internet outrage.

But I'm going to feel good for a while over this one.

[greenman3610]

3. Exxon take note..

http://ecowatch.com/2015/09/21/exxon-climate-denial/

Thanks to a months-long investigation by the Pulitzer-prize winning InsideClimate News, we learned last week that ExxonMobil’s own scientists had secretly confirmed the science behind human-caused climate change as early as the late 1970s.

[Journeyman]

4. I had to look, see if he ever gave a rationale for killing people for corporate profit. . .

And he did: The dead died for corporate profits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut_Corporation_of_America

Despite more than 12 tests between 2007 and 2008 that showed salmonella contamination in his company’s products, Parnell wrote an e-mail to company employees on Jan 12, 2009, that stated, "we have never found any salmonella at all. No salmonella has been found anywhere in our products or in our plants."[48][50] Parnell ordered products identified with salmonella to be shipped and complained that tests discovering the contaminated food were "costing us huge $$$$$." In a June 2008 e-mail exchange, Parnell complained to a worker after being notified that salmonella had been found in more products. "I go thru this about once a week," he wrote. "I will hold my breath ... again."[50] After the company was identified as the source of the outbreak, Parnell pressed federal regulators to allow him to continue using peanuts from the tainted plant. He wrote that company executives "desperately at least need to turn the raw peanuts on our floor into money."[48]


Parnell and his brother were convicted in September 2014 of 71 criminal counts,[75] including conspiracy, fraud and other federal charges.[76] In July 2015 Federal authorities recommended a sentence of life imprisonment for Parnell.[75]

[DebbieCDC]

5. I hope every meal he gets every single day in prison

is a peanut butter sandwich

[Lychee2]

12. Salmonella peanut butter every day?

He is going to prison AS punishment; not FOR punishment.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. Rare indeed, and long overdue

[alfredo]

7. I say that is a good start.

He knew he was killing Americans, I say he's a terrorist.

[Lychee2]

13. Yes.

But he doesn't qualify as a terrorist. For that, he would have to threaten to spread more salmonella.

[alfredo]

15. He is an asshole.

[GliderGuider]

8. I hope this bodes ill for Volkswagen. nt

[valerief]

9. I don't understand. I guess he wasn't rich enough to save his ass.

Cuz payoffs trump justice.

[xynthee]

10. If only this could be repeated for the CEOs

in pretty much every industry! Think of all the blood on all their hands. This guy seems to have been unusually blatant, though. It's almost as if he just couldn't conceive of ever being called to account for anything.

[Dustlawyer]

28. BP did it in their Texas City texas plant that blew up March 23 2005.

After their merger in 2002, with Amoco they had what had once been the worlds largest refinery that was then a rust bucket, or as one of their internal documents stated, "If this plant had been an aircraft carrier, it would be at the bottom of the ocean." They had to determine how much money they would spend to get it to its most profitable point. They had 4 budgets the home office in London came up with, The straw house budget (they had cartoon pictures of these houses next to each budget); the stick house budget; brick house...; and the impenetrable fortress budget. Their problem, under the straw and stick house budgets they estimated they would kill some of their contract workers since they were not repairing all of the known dangers (refineries self report accidents and leaks since the EPA doesn't have the resources to inspect them).

BP's problem was best described in the budget plan thusly, "In order to have a more accurate budget, how much $ will it take to save our little (insert picture of cartoon pigs) (insert picture of bacon)? They came up with $10 million per death. That was not just to settle with the family of the deceased worker, but most went to pay defense attorneys and litigation costs and also for an ad budget to air ads to rehab their image in the area.

In Texas City they picked the Stick House budget because they would only kill one or two and their profits were higher under that budget. The problem was they underestimated the deaths and killed 15 instead, including James and Linda Rowe, the mother and father of Eva and Jeremy Rowe.

Since then they ruined the Gulf and countless businesses and lives, including many more dead. I hear BP has some job openings after gas prices go back up, any takers?

Fuck these guys!!!

[tclambert]

11. If Republicans get their way, such prosecution could never happen again.

They would gut the budget for inspections, testing, and investigating outbreaks of illness; and they would try to abolish the agencies that regulate such industries. They wouldn't want to place an "unfair" burden on businesses, risk driving them into bankruptcy (like this did), or harm their profits. Gotta sell those tainted peanuts, contaminated meat, and toxic chemicals, including oil, coal, and natural gas.

[alfredo]

16. They've already hobbled the CDC because they said something "unkind" about guns.

[Lychee2]

14. 28 years? Madoff got 150 years.

And he didn't kill anybody, that we know of. Something is out of whack here.

[alfredo]

17. He ripped off the rich.

[Lychee2]

18. Yep. They take that very seriously.

+1.

[alfredo]

19. Michael Milken only spent two years behind bars.

[Lychee2]

21. You just refuted yourself.

You found a counter-example to disprove your own theory. What else can you do for entertainment?

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

23. It's a life sentence. He can't get out until he's 89 - not likely to live that long in prison.

[Lychee2]

24. Right, Elmer, there is no practical difference.

I'm just saying that a 150 year sentence leaves the message that the Madoff's crime was worse than the one that netted the other guy 28 years.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

25. Of course it's worse. He ripped off RICH POEPLE for goodness sakes!!

[Lychee2]

26. I get it. Of course that's worse than killing a few peons! :) nt

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

27. It isn't to me - but I'm not the PTB!

[marble falls]

20. I hope this is sign of the times an not an exception. The banks and Wall Street needs a bunch of 28y

sentences meted out.

[davekriss]

22. Yay !!