A former plant manager admitted on Friday that the company was involved in a massive salmonella outbreak was knowingly distributing contaminated peanuts to manufacturers.
The peanuts were shipped by presenting faked documents claiming that the produce were salmonella-free. When the salmonella outbreak began, this plant was identified as the source of the contaminant that killed nine Americans and affected at least 700 people.
Sammy Lightsey, plant manager of Peanut Corporation of America from July 2008 until the company went bankrupt in 2009 due to the outbreak, detailed the plant's operations. He testified against Stewart Parnell, his former boss and owner of the plant.
Lightsey narrated that during his management, he discovered that they had been shipping peanuts on the same day that they were harvested. This is against the protocol that dictates that the peanuts should be tested first for salmonella. He also stated that these peanuts were sold to Kellogg's and were used as in ingredient for the peanut butter crackers.
Lightsey immediately informed Michael Parnell, the person who handled the company's contract with Kellogg's, about the violation.
"I went to the office and called Mike Parnell and I told him we can't do this. It was illegal and it was wrong," Lightsey told the Associated Press. "He informed me it was set up before I got there and don't worry about Kellogg's, he can handle Kellogg's."
Investigators of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreed to give a lighter sentence to Lightsey in exchange of his testimony. When the investigation began, Lightsey showed officials tests for salmonella that showed a false positive. Five days later, he confessed that the company has performed lab testing showing that the peanuts were positive for salmonella at least three times during his stint as manager. Further investigation revealed that the company had 12 positive tests for salmonella for two years.
The plant was eventually shut down, but the outbreak led to one of the most massive food recalls in the U.S history.
