Salmonella Outbreak Victims Want Charges
Salmonella outbreak victims killed or sickened by peanut products distributed by now-defunct Peanut Corporation of America deserve a renewed criminal investigation of acts of negligence by company officials, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro has said.
The ranking member on the Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee issued a statement on Friday in conjuction with a gathering of outraged victims from the outbreak, which killed nine people and sickened more than 700 others across the country in late 2008 and early 2009. Randy Napier of Ohio, whose mother was the ninth person to die in the outbreak, is among the core group of victims who remain upset that no criminal charges have been filed against Peanut Corporation of America's chief executive, Stewart Parnell. Napier and his siblings, along with other the family of the late Doris Flatgard of Minnesota, are represented in civil action by food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen P.A.DeLauro, who represents the third district from Connecticut, strongly urged the Department of Justice to renew focus on the investigation. If federal authorities find the company has acted with willful negligence, DOJ should move forward with prosecuting the appropriate parties responsible, DeLauro said.
DeLauro was a supporter of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act that President Obama signed into law last month, but she continues to press for the creation of a single food safety agency to streamline the work currently done by 15 federal agencies that currently share jurisdiction in protecting our food supply.
