Guilty Verdicts in Tainted Peanuts Trial

ALBANY, Ga. (AP) — A federal jury convicted three people Friday in connection with an outbreak of salmonella poisoning

five years ago that sickened hundreds of people and was linked to a number of deaths.

Former Peanut Corporation of America owner Stewart Parnell was found guilty of conspiracy and other charges after a seven-week trial in Albany, Georgia.

Parnell, his brother, Michael Parnell, and quality assurance manager Mary Wilkerson have been on trial since Aug. 1 on charges stemming from the 2008-2009 outbreak that sickened 714 people and was linked to nine deaths. Michael Parnell was found guilty of conspiracy. Wilkerson was found guilty of obstruction.

Conspiracy charges and the obstruction charges each carry up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing will take place at a later date.

Experts say it's the first time corporate executives and plant workers have gone to trial in a food poisoning case. The Georgia plant was shut down in 2009 and Peanut Corporation went bankrupt.

The defendants were charged last year in a 76-count indictment that accused the Parnell brothers of shipping tainted peanuts and peanut butter and covering up lab tests showing positive results for salmonella. Peanut Corporation's products were used as ingredients in crackers and other snacks.

The company's plant in Blakely was shut down after being identified as the origin point of the salmonella outbreak in 2009. Federal inspectors also found roof leaks, evidence of bugs and rodents, and a peanut roaster that workers failed to ensure was heated to the proper temperature to kill salmonella. Investigators say they also uncovered a system the plant used to fake microbiological test results required by customers so the company could conceal positive lab tests for salmonella contamination.

The outbreak prompted one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 714 people in 46 states were infected and nine people died — three in Minnesota, two in Ohio, two in Virginia, one in Idaho and one in North Carolina.