Dive Brief:

• Stewart and Michael Parnell, convicted in the Peanut Corporation of America salmonella outbreak, have landed in federal prison to serve their sentences.
• Stewart Parnell is at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) at Estill, SC, with a planned release date of Feb. 6, 2040. Michael Parnell is at the low-security FCI Milan, at Milan, MI, with a release date of Feb. 17, 2033.
• The third convicted defendant, Mary Wilkerson, is serving her five-year prison sentence at the co-ed Marianna FCI in Florida, with a release date of March 10, 2020. Two other PCA managers, Daniel Kilgore and Samuel Lightsey, who testified at the trial with a guilty plea in exchange for shorter sentences, are serving six- and thee-year prison terms, respectively.

Dive Insight:

This case and others from the last few years have culminated in an assurance from the Department of Justice that it would push for more frequent and severe punishments for food safety infractions. This has put food and beverage companies on alert.

According to a CDC official at the trial, the salmonella outbreak in 2008 to 2009 sickened 714 people in 46 states, 166 of whom were hospitalized. It also led to one of the most costly ingredient recalls to date.

The magnitude of the outbreak and recall led to unprecedented criminal charges, with a life sentence being tossed around as a possible punishment for Stewart Parnell. 

But the federal government has offered manufacturers a way out: FSMA. By following the requirements outlined by new FSMA rules, particularly the rule concerning preventive measures, it is much less likely that a manufacturer would find itself facing the same types of criminal charges as the PCA executives.