In the most severe penalty ever given in a foodborne illness case, former PCA CEO was sentenced to 28 years in prison on Monday.
As reported by Time, in a historic move for food safety litigation, former food industry executive Stewart Parnell, 61, was sentenced to 336 months (28 years) in prison on Monday for his role in a 2008-2009 salmonella outbreak that resulted in hundreds of sick Americans, roughly half of them children, and nine deaths.
Parnell, the former CEO of the peanut processing company Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), could have gone to prison for life, according to federal calculations. However, the sentence, handed down by U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands in a Georgia court, is still the strongest given in foodborne illness case. Parnell’s attorney says they plan to appeal.
Two other former PCA employees were also sentenced. Michael Parnell, Stewart’s brother, was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Mary Wilkerson, who was a manager of quality control at PCA was sentenced to five years.
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