Food safetyFormer peanut company owner to jail for 28 years for fatal 2009 salmonella outbreak

In a rare instance of a prison sentence in a food contamination case, Stewart Parnell, the former owner of Peanut Corporation of America, was sentenced to twenty-eight years in prison for his role in a 2009 salmonella outbreak which killed nine people and sickened hundreds.

Parnell, 61, who once managed the Peanut Corporation of America, and his brother, Michael Parnell, who was a food broker for the company, were convicted on Monday on federal conspiracy charges for knowingly shipping salmonella-tainted peanuts to customers.

Contamination at the company’s plant in Blakely, Georgia, resulted in one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history, and drove the company into liquidation.

Federal investigators who checked the Georgia facility found a leaky roof, roaches, and evidence of rodents, all ingredients for breeding salmonella. They also uncovered e-mails and records showing food confirmed by lab tests to contain salmonella was shipped to customers.

USA Today reports that U.S. district judge Louis Sands gave Michael Parnell twenty years in prison. Mary Wilkerson, a former quality control manager at the plant who was convicted of obstruction of justice, was sentenced to five years in prison.

Sands also ordered both Parnells to surrender, rejecting defense arguments that the two should be allowed to remain free on bond pending appeals. The judge deemed them potential flight risks.

Before being sentenced, Stewart Parnell said: “This has been a seven-year nightmare for me and my family. I’m truly, truly sorry for what’s happened.”

Jeff Almer, of Brainerd, Minnesota, whose mother died from eating tainted peanut butter, was among those who told Judge Sands that the Parnells should receive stiff prison time.

“My mother died a painful death from salmonella, and the look of horror on her face as she died shall always haunt me,” said Almer. “I just hope they ship you all to jail.”

During the seven-week trial last year, prosecutors said the Parnell brothers covered up the presence of salmonella in the company’s peanut products for years, going so far as to create fake certificates showing that the company’s products were uncontaminated even though laboratory test results showed otherwise.

The Parnells have insisted they never knowingly endangered customers, and people who spoke on their behalf asked a judge to show mercy.

“No one thought that the products were unsafe or could harm someone,” said Stewart Parnell’s daughter, Grey Parnell. “Dad brought them home to us. We all ate it.”

Official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testified at the trial that the company’s peanut products made 714 people ill in 46 states, including 166 who were taken to hospital.

William Marler, a Seattle-based food safety lawyer who represented many families of victims in the salmonella outbreak, characterized the prospect of a life sentence for Stewart Parnell as “unprecedented.” But he said it was not necessarily surprising in light of the evidence.

Marler called the outcome “a big step forward” in a telephone interview after the court proceeding.

“This sentence is going to send a stiff, cold wind through board rooms across the U.S.,” Marler tweeted.