Ex-peanut exec gets 28 years in prison for outbreak
Associated Press
ALBANY, GA.
A former peanut company executive was sentenced Monday 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.
The outbreak in 2008 and 2009 was blamed for nine deaths, including two in Ohio, and sickened hundreds more, and triggered one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history.
A federal jury convicted Stewart Parnell, 61, of knowingly shipping contaminated peanut butter and of faking results of lab tests intended to screen for salmonella.