A Peanut Exec Just Received the Harshest Food Safety Prison Sentence Ever

The humble peanut is infamous for its lethal qualities, but its reputation as a killer is usually linked to allergies and not a massive criminal conspiracy at a food processing plant.

Earlier this week, Stewart Parnell, former owner and president of Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), was sentenced to 28 years in prison for allowing the distribution of salmonella-tainted peanuts across the United States that led to the death of nine people.

Parnell was found guilty on all but one of 68 counts of conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, the sale of misbranded food, and the introduction of adulterated food into interstate commerce. Stewart's brother Michael, a food broker, received a lesser sentence of 20 years, while receptionist, office manager and quality assurance manager, Mary Wilkinson, got a five-year jail sentence.

The accused in this case were alleged to have fabricated certificates stating that their food at was free of "pathogens" when there had been no actual testing of it. Prosecutors also argued that Parnell and his team gave untrue and misleading answers to the regulators who visited their plant. These schemes ended up having massive, and in some cases lethal, consequences on consumers across the US.

Stewart Parnell, and a number of his associates at The Peanut Corporation of America, were found to have been behind 700 reported cases of salmonella poisoning in 46 states after they knowingly allowed the distribution of tainted products from their Georgia processing plant, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's projections peg the actual number of related cases of salmonella in the ballpark of 22,000.

Speaking to the Food Poison Journal, prosecutor Michael J. Moore said that this case was about more than just food. "This case was never just about shipping tainted peanut product; it was about making sure individual wrongdoers were held accountable and the losses suffered by the victims and their families are never forgotten."

In addition to the harsh criminal sentence, Judge W. Louis Sands found that the Peanut Corporation of America defrauded their customers by jeopardizing "the quality and purity of their peanut products." As a result, he ruled that Stewart Parnell and Mary Wilkerson are liable anywhere between $100 million and $200 million in losses, adding that the Parnells "should have known that their actions presented a reckless risk of death or serious bodily injury," the Food Poison Journal reported.