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Salmonella Trial Finds 3 Guilty

    Three people were found guilty by a federal jury in connection with an outbreak of salmonella poisoning five years ago that sickened 714 people and was linked to nine deaths.

    The peanut company’s owner was found guilty of conspiracy and other charges. His brother was also found guilty of conspiracy and the company’s quality assurance manager was found guilty of obstruction.

    Sentencing will take place at a later date and all three convicted can face up to 20 years in prison.

    The defendants were charged in a 76-count indictment that accused the brothers of shipping tainted peanuts and peanut butter and covering up tests that showed positive results for salmonella. Their products were used as ingredients in crackers and other snacks.

    After being identified as the point of origin for the salmonella outbreak, the company was shut down. When government inspectors examined the plant, they found evidence of roof leaks, insects, rodents and a peanut roaster that workers failed to ensure was heated to the required temperature to kill salmonella. Inspectors also uncovered a system used to fake microbiological test results required by customers so the company could conceal positive lab tests for salmonella.

    The owner’s brother was in charge of selling peanut paste to a large food manufacturer which needed 40,000 pounds of paste from the company twice a week. Prosecutors say that the brothers used fake lab results so that wait times for accurate lab tests wouldn’t hold up their hectic shipping schedule.

    One piece of blistering evidence was an email the owner wrote after being notified that one of his shipments faced delay while waiting on lab results. The email read, “Just ship it. I cannot afford to (lose) another customer.”

    The prosecutor in this case said he hopes the trial will send a strong message to the food industry that its officials are now on notice that they will be held accountable for foodborne illnesses.