FDA Opens Criminal Investigation of Peanut Corporation of America

As predicted in our earlier entry, the investigation into the salmonella outbreak has now become a criminal investigation of Peanut Corporation of America. Recently, it was learned that company officials knew that prior batches of its product were contaminated but shipped them anyway. The Food and Drug Administration is spearheading the investigation.

The company in Blakely, Georgia is accused of causing the deaths of at least eight people and the sickening of over 500 in 43 states and Canada.

Peanut Corp. of America, a family-owned business based in Lynchburg, Va. The sister of the PCA President, Stewart Parnell, has asked for people to give them the benefit of the doubt and insists that accounts of filthy conditions are probably overblown. She better hope so, because If the prior contamination stories are true, these peanut butter makers can stick a fork in themselves because they are done. Jurors do not like people tainting the food that they routinely feed their children.

In addition to the criminal liability, the company will be hit with a likely massive tort case and regulatory fines. This would likely by the end of the Parnell’s work in peanuts.

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