(Editor’s note: These are short profiles of victims of the 2008-09 Salmonella outbreak linked to Peanut Corporation of America products. The jury in the PCA criminal trial is due to resume its deliberations on Thursday morning in Albany, GA.) Shirley Almer Shirley Almer resided in Brainerd, MN. She owned a family bowling alley in Wadena,…
PCA’s Former Plant Manager Cross-Examined by Defense Team
Samuel Lightsey, the former Peanut Corporation of American (PCA) plant manager with the government plea deal, spent more than six days on the witness stand answering every question put to him by prosecutors. On Tuesday, defense attorneys for the three former PCA executives on trial for a total of 71 federal felonies got their chance…
In the Dark: Witness Says Kellogg’s Didn’t Know What it was Getting From PCA
Kellogg’s of Battle Creek believed it was getting what it had ordered from Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). It wanted only domestic peanuts free of Salmonella contamination, period. But each time a tanker truck with a 40,000-pound load left PCA’s Blakely, GA, peanut processing plant, Kellogg’s was getting something else entirely. The big tanker trucks…
Ex-PCA Plant Manager Testifies Against His Former Associates
The former Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) plant manager at Blakely, GA, told a federal criminal jury on Friday that PCA owner and chief executive Stewart Parnell ordered him to ship peanut products that tested positive for Salmonella. Samuel Lightsey also said that peanut broker Michael Parnell, Stewart Parnell’s brother, told him not to worry…
PCA Trial Testimony Focuses on Salmonella Testing, Investigation
Two top officials of testing laboratories used by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) and a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official who led the investigation into the deadly Salmonella outbreak linked to the Blakely, GA, peanut processing plant offered up the first testimony in the federal trial now in its second week in…
PCA Jury Hears About ‘Just Ship It’ Emails During Government’s Opening Statement
The long-awaited Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) trial got underway with opening statements Friday morning in Albany, GA, and it was not long before the jury learned about Stewart Parnell’s three most infamous words: “Just ship it.” That was allegedly his reply when employees wanted to know what to do when laboratory tests came back…