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Federal inmate Stewart Parnell, the former chief executive and part owner of the now defunct Peanut Corporation of America, is the featured subject of a new episode of CNBC’s “American Greed.”  The episode premieres at 10 p.m. EDT/PDT on Monday, July 3.

Stewart, 63, is serving a 28-year prison sentence for knowingly shipping peanut products contaminated with salmonella, leading to thousands of illnesses and nine deaths in a foodborne illness outbreak that resulted in the largest food recall in U.S. history.

AmericanGreed_406x250“American Greed” is narrated by stage, screen and television actor Stacy Keach, best know for his portrayal of detective Mike Hammer and for his Golden Globe-winning depiction of Ernest Hemingway.

Producers of the true crime series have worked for many months on the Parnell episode.    It features on-camera interviews with such food safety advocates as attorney Bill Marler,  Northeastern University food policy expert Darin Detwiler, and whistleblower Kenneth Kendrick.

“American Greed” took up the story of the deadly 2008-09 outbreak that killed nine people because Parnell knew Peanut Corporation of America peanut butter and peanut paste was contaminated with Salmonella before it was shipped.

The TV series has focused on what it calls “stories from the dark side of the American Dream” to discover how far some people will go for financial wealth, “no matter the cost to themselves and those around them.” It has looked at all sorts of real-life cases. Many involve criminal activity, including  credit card scams, identity theft, counterfeiting and Ponzi schemes.

Before the Salmonella outbreak was discovered  in late 2008, Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) facilities in three states were managed by Parnell from a spacious residence just outside of Lynchburg, VA. When required, Parnell piloted his private plane to the state’s with company facilities.

In 2014 jury trial, Stewart Parnell was convicted on 67 federal felony counts and his brother Michael Parnell was convicted on 29. Both received prison sentences.

Three other PCA executives and managers were also convicted and sentenced to prison time.

USA CONGRESS SALMONELLA
Stewart Parnell

Parnell  is now incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) at Estill, SC,   He and his brother are appealing their convictions and their sentences to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

Marler, who is also publisher of Food Safety News, represented majority  of the most seriously sickened PCA victims along with families of those who died in the outbreak.

Detwiler is a nationally known victim’s advocate who lost his son in the 1993 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak involving Jack in the Box.

Kendrick, hired as a manager at PCA’s Plainview, TX, facility, became a whistleblower after he learned no state or federal food safety agencies knew of the company’s existence because Parnell had decided not to register or license it.

CNBC has provided this promotional link:

“Next On | American Greed: From Peanuts To Sick Millions | American Greed – It’s one of the biggest food poisoning outbreaks in U.S. history: Peanut Corporation of America CEO Stewart Parnell ships peanut products tainted with salmonella – killing nine, sickening thousands.”

(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)

Riley Detwiler full frameExactly 24 years ago today my 16-month-old son Riley died from E.coli/HUS during the 1993 “Jack in the Box” outbreak. He was the last of the four young children who paid the ultimate price for failures in food safety protocols at that time.

The landmark outbreak is often referred to as the 9/11 of the food industry. In the many years since, we have gained new federal policies, advancements in science and in reporting data collection, and even a whole new “culture of food safety.”

I was 24 at the time and have now literally lived half of my life in the shadow of that event. Rarely a day goes by without reading of an illness, an outbreak, a death, or some other news item that reminds me of the faults in my early assumptions of the government or the industry solving the problems with food safety.

According to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the years since my son died have witnessed over 1.1 billion Americans becoming ill, almost 3.1 million Americans hospitalized, and 72,000 American deaths due to foodborne pathogens. Most of these illnesses and deaths could have been prevented.

Some outbreaks and deaths were unintentional and could have been prevented with stronger policies and better training. Other incidents, unfortunately, have causes linked to greed and intent. A few notable trials — Peanut Corporation of America, the DeCosters of Quality Egg, etc. — show that some are able to consider the worst impacts on the lives and health of consumers as a cost of doing business. This should never be a cost that consumers, especially the young and vulnerable, should be expected to bear.

Today, I am a food policy professor, columnist, and food industry consultant. I gain much satisfaction in knowing that for every company that has failed to prevent such impacts on public health, hundreds of other companies place a high priority on food safety. They invest in ensuring that their products are going to be safe and wholesome.

While many, if not most food companies understand their role in preventing another illness or another death, far too many victims and families know the true burden of disease.

Too many homes in this country include a chair forever empty at a family table due to food safety failures.

Darin Detwiler
Darin Detwiler

About the author: Darin Detwiler, founder and president of Detwiler Consulting Group, LLC, is the director of the MS in Regulatory Affairs of Food and Food Industry and Professor of Food Policy at Northeastern University in Boston.  In addition to serving as the executive vice president for public health at the International Food Authenticity Assurance Organization, Detwiler serves on numerous committees and advisory panels related to food science, nutrition, fraud, and policy. He is a sought-after speaker on key issues in food policy at corporate and regulatory training events, as well as national and international events. Detwiler holds a doctorate of Law and Policy.

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Who spent time this summer with Al Almanza, USDA’s deputy under secretary for food safety and its acting administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service? Industry and union representatives, foreign dignitaries, a former boss, and a few others. Almanza’s “public calendar” has been updated through September, detailing his meetings with people outside the federal government during the past three months. The top FSIS official met separately on July 7 with news radio journalist Joe DeStio and Agri-Pulse’s Jeff Nailey. officemeeting_406x250With DeStio, the topic was the new beef grinding log regulations, which for the first time has retail outlets keeping track of the source of beef going through their grinders. Broader food safety accomplishments were discussed with Nalley. The note-takers in the corners of Almanza’s media meetings were Aaron LaVailee, deputy assistant administrator — who was at both — and Nina Anand, public affairs specialist, who ran interference for the Nalley meeting. Dale Jackson, senior director of agriculture business, and Shannon McDaniel, executive director, of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma along with Kayla Gebeck, public affairs advisor with Holland & Knight LLP met with Almanza on July 13. The subject of the meeting was “beef slaughter.” Almanza, along with Lavallee, met on July 14 with Richard Raymond, who was USDA’s under secretary for food safety during the Bush Administration. The subject of the meeting was to discuss the government career of the deputy under secretary. Mark Lauritsen and Mia Dell, both of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, meet with Almanza on Aug. 23 to discuss meat and poultry employee issues. The UFCW represents many of the near 10,000 FSIS employees under Almanza’s command. On Aug. 25, Almanza and the Brian Ronholm, USDA’s other deputy undersecretary for food safty, held periodic meeting with representatives of industry and consumer. Also joining the meetings was Carmen Rottenberg, deputy FSIS administrator, and several assistants. Darin Detwiler, a food safety expert formerly the STOP Foodborne Illness, paid a visit to Almanza’s office on Aug. 30 to discuss food labeling. And on the same date, there was a discussion of a food protection memorandum of understanding between FSIS personnel led by Almansa and representatives of the Veterinary Services Brand of the Public Health Division of the Defense Health Agency. Chinese from the Hong Kong border provenance of ShenZhen and the North Korean-bordering area of LiaoNing meet the Almanza and FSIS international experts on Sept. 1. Subjects discussed included the Public Health Information System and its export module and regulatory issues between the two countries. A week later, on Sept. 8, Almanza did a “meet and greet” with a delegation from SENASICA, Mexico’s top food safety agency, led by its chief, Enrique Sanchez Cruz. On the same day, Scott Goltry, vice president of regulatory affairs for the North American Meat Institute, came around to talk about animal production biosecurity with Almanza and Carmen Rottenberg, an FSIS deputy administrator. Meat exports to Canada were subject of a Sept. 15 meeting with Almanza, two of his assistants and several staff from the House Committee on Agriculture. On Sept. 19, Fitz Elder of the agriculture and food boutique lobby shop, The Russell Group, got face time with Almanza to discuss catfish. The FSIS boss was joined by several of this legislative analysts. Bernie Shire of Meat+Poultry Magazine got an interview with Almanza, later on Sept. 19. On Sept 20, Ronald and Almanza did their monthly meetings with consumer and industry representatives. On the same day, Almanza led FSIS officials in a “meet and greet” of Chinese Food and Drug Administration officials including the director general Xu Jinghe. H.E. VuVan Tham, deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for Vietnam also visited Almanza on Sept. 20 to talk about catfish. The final meeting to make the public calendar for the summer was a Sept. 27 meeting with Chandler Keys, principal of the Keys Group and Andre Noguiera, chief executive for Greely, CO-based JBS USA to discuss “general JBS food safety issues.” (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)

The national nonprofit advocacy group STOP Foodborne Illness is inviting supporters to “STOP @ Dovetail Brewery” for a benefit event in Chicago on Aug. 10. Tickets are available online for $85 each for the evening of craft beer, appetizers and jazz at the Windy City’s newest craft brewery, The Dovetail Brewery. On tap — literally — will be a traditional German-style Lager, a Bavarian-style Hefeweizen and a Franconian-style Rauchbier, according to information at www.stopfoodborneillness.org. STOP-Foodborne-Illness-2016-benefitSTOP Foodborne Illness is a national nonprofit public health organization dedicated to the prevention of illness and death from foodborne pathogens by advocating for sound public policy, building public awareness, and assisting those impacted by foodborne illness. Its programs are made available through grants and donations. The group was founded, in part, by Darin Detwiler, the father of 16-month-old Riley Detwiler who died as a result of a 1993 E. coli outbreak. Originally called Safe Tables Our Priority (STOP), today STOP Foodborne Illness has more than 31,000 supporters nationwide. The group has partnered with Congress, the USDA, the FDA, the CDC and other relevant agencies to mitigate food safety risks through policy and legislation. “We offer peer-to-peer mentoring for victims and families all over the country. We empower others to become food safety advocates themselves through free resources and up-to-date information,” according to the organization’s website. “Since STOP Foodborne Illness was founded, we have been instrumental in passing food safety laws including the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA).” For those who cannot attend the benefit event and wish to make a donation, visit the STOP Foodborne Illness website. (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)

STOP Foodborne Illness is offering simple food safety tips to help prevent food poisoning throughout the holiday season. “Many people think foodborne illness won’t happen to them, but each year 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne pathogens,” said Darin Detwiler, senior policy coordinator for STOP Foodborne Illness. “STOP’s primary concern is keeping pathogens from reaching consumers in the first place, but until that happens, we want to help consumers buy, store and prepare food safely.” STOP Foodborne Illness’ Food Safety Guidelines for the Holidays (and All Winter Long) rotatingchristmaslights_406x250

  • Wash your hands with soap and water before and after preparing food. Winter is norovirus season – which is often spread by unwashed hands.
  • Use a thermometer for cooking meat, poultry, and seafood ensuring the thickest part has reached a safe internal temperature: Poultry (including ground) 165ºF, burgers & ground meat 160°F, fish & shellfish 145ºF, whole cuts of meat (including pork) 145ºF. Make sure to wash the thermometer between readings.
  • Avoid cross-contamination: When shopping, keep raw meat/poultry/seafood in separate plastic bags away from other foods in your cart and at checkout; use one cutting board for raw meat and a separate one for other perishables or clean and sanitize between use.
  • Safely enjoy homemade eggnog, meringues, and other dishes containing raw eggs by using pasteurized eggs.
  • Perishable foods that have been at room temperature for two hours are risky as pathogens can grow; a little bit of contamination becomes a large problem with time, eat leftovers within three days of refrigerating, ensure your fridge is below 41ºF. Reheat leftovers to 165ºF/boil sauces and gravies.

If you think you have been sickened from food, please contact STOP Foodborne Illness at 773-269-6555 or visit www.stopfoodborneillness.org. STOP Foodborne Illness helps foodborne illness victims navigate the health system to figure out what they have, where it might have come from, and what to do next. (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)