Darth Parnell testifying before Congress in February 2009

Not much has been heard in the year since the CDC found that the CEO of Peanut Corporation of America,  Stewart Parnell, was responsible for knowingly shipping Samonella-infected peanut butter across the country, sickening over 700 people and killing at least 9.

In a time where the news media is crawling all over a story about an attempted underwear bomber that resulted in no deaths or injuries, you would think that this Stewart Parnell would be indicted for perpetrating the largest biological weapon attack on U.S. soil in history.

In December 2009 the Lynchburg News Advance reported that the “executives and former managers of the now-bankrupt company … [are] fighting among themselves for a piece of a $1 million corporate insurance policy.”  including:

- PCA President Stewart Parnell had demanded $951,000 of the $1 million policy for his legal defense;

- Former Blakely plant manager Samuel Lightsey asked for $500,000 for his defense in an ongoing criminal investigation;

- David Royster III and David Royster IV, former members of the PCA board of directors, asked to have unspecified funds reserved for their use; and

- Joe Sams, a former Blakely plant manager, and Mary Wilkerson, a former Blakely quality assurance manager, asked for $182,000 for legal costs.

Meanwhile, 9 Americans are dead.  Where is the justice?

Stewart Parnell, et al – Have You No Shame? Like Vultures on a Carcass : Marler Blog.

Before we knew the cause of the salmonella poisoned peanut butter, the CDC and FDA knew something was amiss.    What’s the fastest way to spread the word?   Social Media!

The avenues employed by the agencies included blogs, texting, mobile versions of agency Web sites, online video from the FDA and CDC on YouTube, podcasts, XML files and RSS feeds including “CDC Emergency Preparedness and Response,” social network outreach on sites like MySpace, a variety of Twitter entities like @FDArecalls and @CDCemergency, virtual worlds, and widgets. The various channels carried both breaking news as well as education information on Salmonella.

So the next time you’re feeling guilty about the amount of time you’re spending on Facebook…just remember that you could be saving lives! 

Social Media Saves Lives: Salmonella Outbreak Pushes HHS, FDA, CDC to Get Social – ReadWriteWeb.

I bought and ate a peanut butter cookie from 7-11 today.  Actually, I ate 3 of them.  I’d been holding out a long time, but I missed them too much.  I guess, as Stewart Parnell said in an email response to the discovery of salmonella bacteria in his products…i’ll “hold my breath”.

I suppose caveat emptor is truly alive and kicking in the USA….at least for those who haven’t already been killed by salmonella-infected peanut paste!

So I was snooping around more on this peanut debacle, and came across these gems from the National Peanut Board website.  Mind you, there’s no evidence connecting anyone on the National Peanut Board to Stewart Parnell or the Peanut Corporation of America.   Also, this is NOT to be confused with the USDA Peanut Standards Board, where Parnell was a board member from 2005 until recently.

HEY KIDS!!!!!

This, my friends, is the National Peanut Board.  From their website:  “Beginning operations in the spring of 2000, the Atlanta-based National Peanut Board (NPB) is a USA peanut farmer-funded research and promotions commodity board that represents all USA peanut farmers and their families.  A ten-member Board, comprised of peanut farmers representing the peanut growing states, is focused on increasing consumption of USA-grown peanuts and peanut products.”

The spokes-character for the National Peanut Board is Buddy McNutty.    The National Peanut Board folks obviously pooled their money together and hired a slick in-your-face ad jock to come up with some catchy slogans.  These catchy slogans are available as T-shirts, posters, and more for purchase from The Peanut Store.

Given what’s transpired, several of these catchy slogans really come across in a completely different tone than I’m sure they were originally intended.   Some of my personal favorites:

Evil Mr. Peanut Testifies before Congress.

Possibly the most damning evidence yet against Stewart “Lex Luthor” Parnell, CEO and owner of Peanut Corporation of America, company emails have surfaced indicating that Parnell personally knew of and pushed forward distribution of the tainted peanut products.

In a June 6, 2008 e-mail from the company owner responding to being notified that some of Peanut Corp. of America’s products that tested positive for salmonella had been shipped, Parnell wrote, “I go through this about once a week. I will hold my breath again.“

During congressional hearings regarding the distribution of salmonella-tainted peanut products by Stewart Parnell’s company, Peanut Corporation of America, Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) asked, “Is Mr. Parnell in the audience?” When there was no response, Walden noted that the owner of the peanut company should be there to hear the stories of family members.

Having failed to voluntarily appear, Parnell was ordered by subpoena to appear before Congress on Wednesday to discuss the outbreak. When he testified later, he cited the Fifth Ammendment of the constitution in reponse to each of the committee’s questions.

At one point, Walden held up a jar filled with peanut products and asked him if he’d be willing to take the lid off and eat them.

“On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer your question based on the United States constitution,” said Parnell.    My prediction is that Parney-boy is going to crack very soon and will either be hospitalized or might even try to flee the country.

Of course, the Japanese have a perfectly reasonable solution for this type of situation, Stewie…it’s called Seppuku.

See my previous post about Stewart Parnell here.

Read full article Peanut firm boss urged shipping bad products – Food safety- msnbc.com.

This whole peanut debacle has me really pissed off.  I was browsing the aisles of my favorite Super Target and couldn’t help but give everything peanut-related the squinty-eye.   Even though this recall is supposedly limited to a single manufacturer…it’s giving the whole peanut world a bad rap.

And we don’t need American products getting a bad rap.   The economy sucks enough without HUGE PRODUCT RECALLS.

Now it turns out that the “family owned” Peanut Corporation of America not only distributed TANKER TRUCKLOADS of SALMONELLA-INFECTED Peanut paste and Peanut butter to store shelves everywhere, but THEY DID IT KNOWINGLY!

“The firm, as part of their own internal testing program, identified some type of salmonella and released a product after it was re-tested [and found not to be contaminated], in some case by a different laboratory,” said Michael Rogers, director of the FDA’s division of field investigations.

In case you were wondering, salmonella is classified by the Center for Disease Control as a Category B Bioterrorism Agent.

“On 12 occasions in 2007 and 2008, Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) sent out peanut butter and peanut paste  even though it knew there was salmonella in the ingredients or finished products.”

According to the CDC as of 9pm on January 25th:

CONFIRMED INFECTED VICTIMS:   501
NUMBER OF STATES AFFECTED: 43
COUNTRIES AFFECTED:  2 (U.S. & Canada)

DEATH TOLL (SO FAR):  8

The mastermind behind the company responsible for what may very well turn out to be the LARGEST RELEASE OF A BIOLOGICAL TERROR AGENT in the history of the world is Stewart Parnell.   He’s the president/owner of the “family owned” Peanut Corporation of America.

Funny how their website isn’t showing much of anything anymore.    Good thing I grabbed screenshots of all of their previous pages from Google’a Cache, where I found this little tidbit from August 4, 2004:

“Whether you are considering us for the first time or you are already our customer, you’ll find we continually strive to provide innovative, flexible processing services to meet our customers’ wide-ranging needs.“  – Stewart Parnell

Apparently their “Flexible processing services” include SHIPPING BIOLOGICAL AGENTS!

“We deeply regret that this product recall is expanding and our first priority is to protect the health of our customers. Our company has worked around the clock for the last week with federal regulators to help identify any potential problems. Our Blakely facility is currently not operating as we continue to work with federal food safety investigators,” Parnell said.

That’s kinda like Lex Luther saying “I deeply regret I shot a nuclear missile at the San Andreas Fault, and my number #1 concern is, of course, the fine citizens of California.”

Don’t F*CK with DIGGZ’ peanut supply, Parnell!

Oh, and anyone who would like to get a zip file with a complete set of high-rez screenshots AND text of the Peanut Corporation’s Website (among others) prior to January 5th, 2009,  send me an email at johnny @ diggz . org.  They’re only $100 and they’re going fast!   Here’s a free sample nugget: