WASHINGTON – After news Friday that a federal jury in Albany, Ga., convicted corporate defendants in a food poisoning case that involved the deaths of three Minnesotans, Sen. Amy Klobuchar released a statement Saturday praising the verdict.
The Georgia case involved a salmonella outbreak from tainted peanut butter that led to nine deaths in 2008 and 2009.
Klobuchar's statement said: "After more than five years of waiting, the families of those who were killed from the salmonella outbreak from contaminated peanut butter have finally seen justice. I called for the prosecution of this case, and while the verdict won't erase the loss these families have suffered, it should send a crystal clear message to those who would knowingly sell tainted and dangerous food to unsuspecting customers. People like Shirley Almer, a grandmother and recovering cancer patient from Perham, Minnesota, should never have died from eating a simple piece of peanut butter toast."
Stewart Parnell, former Peanut Corporation of America owner, was convicted of charges related to shipping tainted peanut butter to customers and faking results of lab tests. A plant manager also was convicted of hiding information about the plant's salmonella problems.
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