Execs of Egg Company Plead Guilty to Selling Contaminated Eggs

 The executives of the Iowa Egg Producer that was responsible for selling eggs that sickened thousands with Salmonella pleaded guilty.  The company will pay 6.8 million in fines and the executives face up to a year in prison and additional fines.

The Iowa Egg Salmonella Outbreak occurred back in 2010.  CDC reported in December of 2010 that 1,939 individuals became infected with Salmonella.  In addition to causing the illnesses, the company ,Quality Egg, pleaded guilty to "giving cash bribes to a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector to approve and allow poor-quality chicken eggs to be sold to the public; introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce, according to the DOJ" and selling eggs mislabeled to hide how old they were by having its employees affix labels to egg shipments that had false expiration dates with the "intent to mislead state regulators and retail egg customers regarding the true age of the eggs,"

Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/03/usa-lawsuit-foodpoisoning-idUSL1N0OK13P20140603
UPDATE 1-Quality Egg admits to selling tainted eggs, bribing official

Tue Jun 3, 2014 2:54pm EDT
By P.J. Huffstutter

CHICAGO, June 3 (Reuters) - Quality Egg LLC and two top executives on Tuesday admitted to selling substandard eggs containing a "poisonous" substance and bribing a federal inspector in a food-safety scandal that sickened tens of thousands, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The Iowa-based company, once among the United States' largest producers of shelled chicken eggs, along with owners Austin and Peter DeCoster, pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges in connection with the massive nationwide salmonella outbreak in 2010.

PCA Owner and employess face prison time for shipping tainted product

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against the owner of PCA as well as several employees for their role in knowingly shipping Salmonella contaminated peanut butter in 2009. This contaminated product resulted in an outbreak of more than 700 illnesses and 9 deaths. It also resulted in one of the largest recalls in US history. The owner now faces 76 charges “with criminal fraud and conspiracy, for his role in what they said was a scheme to ship peanut products known to be contaminated to customers in states across the country” , which can land him in prison for up to 20 years.
The indictment can be viewed here http://www.justice.gov/iso/opa/resources/61201322111426350488.pdf. One of the more colorful emails captured in the indictment is this.

Also facing charges are the Operations Manager and the QA Manager. While we do not know to what extent they were following orders versus actively participating, we certainly can guess that they were not making large sums of money off the transactions compared to the owner and his brother. We can also guess that they did not have the level of knowledge required with regard to the actions they were taking. From the indictment:

So here is an office person that was promoted to the QA manager. Was this promotion based upon her food safety knowledge, or the fact she could execute orders from her superiors. Unfortunately, this person may now face prison time. For what…following orders of an owner who put his own greed above the safety of the people who consumed his product.

While the vast majority of food companies here in the US produce safe food, there are still too many companies who do not put a premium on hiring and developing a well-trained technical support staff, or giving them a voice in making risk-based decisions. And there are still too many companies where the decision makers are inadequately versed in the technical aspects of the products they make, including food safety. Hopefully the outcome of this case will become a shot-across-the-bow for these companies. 

  

Charges Filed in Peanut Salmonella Case
By SABRINA TAVERNISE

Published: February 21, 2013 NY Timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/22/business/us-charges-former-owner-and-employees-in-peanut-salmonella-case.html?_r=0

Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against the former owner and several employees of a now-defunct peanut company that was the source of a salmonella outbreak in 2009 that killed nine people and sickened more than 700. In a 76-count indictment unsealed on Wednesday, investigators charged Stewart Parnell, 58, the former owner of the Peanut Corporation of America, or P.C.A., with criminal fraud and conspiracy, for his role in what they said was a scheme to ship peanut products known to be contaminated to customers in states across the country.

The salmonella outbreak was one of the deadliest in United States history, resulting in recalls of thousands of products made by more than 300 companies, according to Food Safety News.