Peanut Corporation of America

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Ex Peanut Exec Gets 28 Years for Salmonella Outbreak

Stewart Parnell apologized to victims

(Newser) - A former peanut company executive was sentenced today 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 killed nine Americans and sickened hundreds more, and triggered...

Peanut Exec Could Get 803-Year Sentence Today

Parnell knowingly sold tainted peanut butter

(Newser) - Three words helped seal the prosecution's case against former peanut company boss Stewart Parnell—and they may send him to prison for the rest of his life. "Just ship it," wrote Parnell in 2007 to a plant manager worried about tainted products, CNN reports. A subsequent salmonella...

Peanut Plant Slapped With Record $14.6M Fine

Multiple safety violations found at plant linked to salmonella outbreak

(Newser) - A Texas peanut plant owned by the company blamed for a nationwide salmonella outbreak has been ordered to shell out $14.6 million for safety violations, AP reports. State officials levied the fine—the largest ever in Texas—for violations including unsanitary conditions, product contamination and operating without a license...

Roof Leak at Plant Implicated in Outbreak

Earlier Ga. salmonella scare also thought caused by rainwater

(Newser) - A leaky roof at the Peanut Corporation of America’s Georgia plant is seen as a possible culprit for the recent salmonella outbreak, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Not only is water necessary to activate salmonella, but rain could have washed salmonella-carrying bird droppings into the plant. “Allowing water to...

Food Hazards Elude Private Inspectors

Food poisoning outbreaks traced back to dangers cut-price auditors missed

(Newser) - The job of monitoring America's food plants is falling more and more to private inspectors who often miss hazards, a New York Times investigation finds. Plants hire such auditors to reassure customers and reduce liability, but the companies often pick the cheapest and least rigorous audits available. Some of the...

Salmonella Toll Hits 666 Sick— and Climbing

9 killed in outbreak; Peanut Corp cited in all 'clusters of infections'

(Newser) - Peanut-linked salmonella has sickened 666 people and counting, despite a massive food recall, Reuters reports. The illness has killed nine. “To date, 19 clusters of infections in five states have been reported in schools and other institutions,” said a health official. “King Nut brand peanut butter was...

Would Better Laws Have Caught Salmonella Scare?
Would Better Laws Have Caught Salmonella Scare?
ANALYSIS
Feb 23, 2009 6:33 PM CST

Would Better Laws Have Caught Salmonella Scare?

(Newser) - A third of US states do not require testing of the salmonella bacteria involved in reported illnesses, possibly hampering national efforts to identify outbreaks, MSNBC reports. If testing were mandatory, proponents say, a strain’s widespread dissemination could be more quickly identified and the source more easily pinpointed. But states...

Peanut Corp. Files for Bankruptcy

(Newser) - The latest victim of the nationwide salmonella outbreak is the Peanut Corporation of America, which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy today, the Lynchburg News & Advance reports. “Given the events of the past month, including the broad-based recalls, the company has no alternative but to cease operations,” a...

Dead Rodents Trigger Recall at Texas Peanut Plant

(Newser) - Texas has ordered a recall of all products ever shipped from a Peanut Corp. of America plant in Plainview amid a nationwide salmonella outbreak. The order came from the Department of State Health Services, which says "dead rodents, rodent excrement, and bird feathers" were discovered yesterday in a crawl...

Congress Shames the Peanut Man
Congress Shames the Peanut Man
OPINION
Feb 12, 2009 10:03 AM CST

Congress Shames the Peanut Man

Salmonella hearing makes an example of Fifth-taking exec

(Newser) - Congress knew it wasn’t going to get any answers out of Stew Parnell, the man whose company's peanut butter is suspected of killing eight people. Parnell doggedly took the Fifth on even the simplest questions, but it didn’t matter. Parnell was summoned only so he could be chastised,...

Peanut Corp Execs Refuse to Testify to Congress

Plead the Fifth, decline to eat their products

(Newser) - Peanut Corp execs had little to say today to a congressional panel curious about the salmonella outbreak that sickened 600 people, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Invoking the Fifth Amendment, PCA president Stewart Parnell and plant manager Sammy Lightsey refused to answer any questions—including on whether they would be willing...

Peanut Corp Closes Texas Plant
 Peanut Corp Closes Texas Plant 
Feb 10, 2009 10:56 AM CST

Peanut Corp Closes Texas Plant

Firm linked to salmonella outbreak suspends operations at 2nd facility

(Newser) - The peanut company at the center of an investigation into a deadly national salmonella outbreak said today that it has suspended operations at a second processing plant. Peanut Corp. of America said in a statement that it was voluntarily suspending operations at its Plainview, Texas, plant while state and federal...

Peanut Corp Lied, Sold to Retailers
Peanut Corp Lied, Sold
to Retailers
Feb 10, 2009 7:44 AM CST

Peanut Corp Lied, Sold to Retailers

Reversal means salmonella recall might have to expand

(Newser) - The Peanut Corporation of America, whose plant in Georgia is the sole source of a nationwide salmonella outbreak, has admitted selling peanut products directly to retailers, primarily dollar stores. The reversal of the company’s earlier claim that it sold only to institutions means the recall of almost 1,800...

Salmonella Outbreak Bares Lethal Flaws in Oversight

Preplanned inspections, loose oversight kept company in business

(Newser) - Angry salmonella victims and their families are asking how the government missed the Peanut Corporation of America's flagrant health violations that killed eight people, reports the New York Times. The company and government inspectors overlooked rodents, leaky roofs and lukewarm roasters, while minimum-wage temporary workers paid little attention to health...

Warnings Crunch Peanut Butter Biz

Sales take a dive as wary shoppers steer clear of old favorite

(Newser) - Peanut butter makers are struggling to deal with the public relations nightmare caused by the salmonella outbreak, reports the New York Times. Many shoppers have started avoiding all brands of peanut butter and sales are down almost 25%. Companies not affected by the recall are buying ads stressing that their...

Worker Told Bosses: We Need to Clean This Place

'I did see roaches and rodents,' employee says

(Newser) - At least one employee alerted management to the sanitation problems at a Georgia peanut plant linked to the deadly salmonella outbreak, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. “I used to tell them all of the time, ‘We need to shut down and really clean this place,’” said Anne...

Peanuts Known Tainted Supplied to School Program

Agency meant to ensure food safety bought contaminated nuts

(Newser) - The peanut firm behind the recent salmonella outbreak sold 32 truckloads of peanuts and peanut butter to a federal lunch program for poor children even after internal tests revealed that they were contaminated with the bacteria, the Washington Post reports. Schools in California, Minnesota, and Idaho received the food in...

Peanut Corp. Banned From Federal Work

Salmonella outbreak shows lack of integrity, honesty: USDA

(Newser) - The Peanut Corporation of America was barred today from government contracts for a year as the criminal investigation into a deadly salmonella outbreak sourced to its Georgia plant gathers steam, Reuters reports. “The company lacks business integrity and business honesty,” steamed a Department of Agriculture spokesman. The PCA’...

Feds Start Criminal Probe Into Salmonella Outbreak

FDA, Justice Dept. team up for investigation of Georgia peanut plant

(Newser) - The federal government has begun a criminal investigation into the peanut-driven salmonella outbreak, after it was revealed that a supplier shipped product that initially tested positive for the bacteria, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The House has called representatives from two testing labs, which certified negative results, to testify. Peanut Corp....

Canada Rejected Plant's Tainted Peanuts

Firm tried to export unsuitable food weeks before current salmonella outbreak

(Newser) - Weeks before the earliest signs of a national salmonella outbreak that now has been traced to peanuts from a Georgia processing plant, peanuts exported by the same company were found to be contaminated and were returned to the United States. The rejected shipment—coming over the US border across a...

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