Dive Brief:
- U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands sentenced the final two executives in the Peanut Corporation of America salmonella contamination case.
- Former plant managers Samuel Lightsey and Daniel Kilgore received three and six years in federal prison, respectively. Those sentences were lowered in part because of the 10 days of testimony they delivered, which provided the prosecution with information submitted into evidence.
- The five PCA executives targeted by the government will receive a total of 62 years worth of prison sentences.
Dive Insight:
The PCA salmonella case was one of the deadliest foodborne illness outbreaks in the modern U.S., and the prison sentences handed down have been unprecedented. The largest went to Stewart Parnell, former CEO of the PCA, who received 28 years, and his brother Michael Parnell, a food broker on PCA's behalf, who received 20 years. Mary Wilkerson, the contamination source plant's quality control manager, received five years.
This is further evidence of the Justice Department's crackdown on food safety, as it recently warned food companies of harsher penalties. And now with the FSMA preventive controls rules in place, the government has more firm regulations to back up its warnings.