And now we're coming up on the home stretch in the salmonella peanut butter case.
AP reports this morning that internal company emails obtained by a House Committee show that PCA president Stewart Parnell ordered his company to ship the poisonous peanuts that have killed 8 people and sickened countless thousands, because he was worried about lost sales -
WASHINGTON (AP) — The owner of a peanut company urged his workers to ship tainted products after receiving test results identifying salmonella, according to internal company e-mails disclosed Wednesday by a House committee.
The company e-mails obtained by the House panel showed that Peanut Corp. of America owner Stewart Parnell ordered the shipments tainted with the bacteria because he was worried about lost sales.
More below the fold...
Worried about lost sales. Are you kidding me?
And just when you thought this couldn't get any nastier, the New York Times describes conditions at PCA's Texas plant which was shut down yesterday due to a new salmonella finding -
Kenneth Kendrick, a former assistant plant manager of the Texas facility, said in an interview that the plant had a leaky roof, rodent infestation and poor process controls. A second former employee of the Texas plant, who asked for anonymity because of legal concerns, confirmed Mr. Kendrick’s descriptions of the plant and its processes. Mr. Kendrick left the plant about two years ago.
"This was a disgusting plant," Mr. Kendrick said. "We cut corners."
The plant always had standing water in its basement, Mr. Kendrick said. The roof leaked so badly that when it rained, workers were instructed to raise tarps to the ceiling to direct the water away from peanuts and plant equipment, the two said. Rain at night went unattended, they said.
Once again - mold, leaky roofs "peppered" with bird shit, rodent infestations...
Sound familiar?
Peanut Corporation of America is a criminal enterprise, a repeated pattern of unconscionable behavior has clearly been established in the way they run their business. It's time to stop playing footsy with those who kill and sicken people through poisoned food. This outbreak was not a 'mistake' or an 'accident'.
It was a deliberate business decision on the part of Stewart Parnell and others at PCA to run their organization in this manner. Long prison sentences are called for here, and this company needs to be shut down now and forever.
In a perfect world? We'd see Stewart Parnell and other top PCA executives prosecuted under the RICO statutes, and we'd see the company and those executives stripped of all their assets to compensate their victims.
At the very least, Stewart Parnell needs to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Why is he a free man right now, for that matter, in light of these emails? Can anyone honestly claim that nobody there knew what would happen by knowingly ordering shipments of poison into our food supply?
The families of 8 deceased people awaiting answers.
Including Jeff Almer, a Minnesota man whose 72-year old mother beat cancer twice over the previous year and a half, only to die from eating poison peanuts shortly thereafter -
Cancer couldn't claim her, but peanut butter did. Now that we understood the cause of her death, our grief was replaced by anger as we struggled to accept this very preventable tragedy. Our family feels cheated. My mom should be with us today.
A roundup of peanut-related recall news up until Monday night by OrangeClouds115 can be found here at our blog, La Vida Locavore.
All other recall news (and much more, including a bunch of fun stuff!) can also be found there.
The current list of recalled products is also available at the FDA's site.