--- title: Stewart Parnell Sentencing: $500,000 Restitution Requested description: Families of the victims of the salmonella outbreak that stemmed from the Peanut Corporation of America have sent the judge a letter canonical: https://time.com/4042733/peanut-outbreak-stewart-parnell-restitution/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-21T16:13:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:55.494Z article:section: Health og:title: Peanut Outbreak Victims Ask Judge for $500,000 in Restitution og:description: Victims ask for funds for food safety groups at Stewart Parnell sentencing og:url: https://time.com/4042733/peanut-outbreak-stewart-parnell-restitution/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d49b95cb2d3193a/698863c8a988cae1bd6b4593/time-peanuts-red-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: TIME-Peanuts-Red copy og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Peanut Outbreak Victims Ask Judge for $500,000 in Restitution twitter:description: Victims ask for funds for food safety groups at Stewart Parnell sentencing twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d49b95cb2d3193a/698863c8a988cae1bd6b4593/time-peanuts-red-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Peanut Outbreak Victims Ask Judge for $500,000 in Restitution for Food Safety Groups > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Know Right Now: Peanut Corp of America CEO Faces Life Sentence [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: Peanut Corp of America CEO Faces Life Sentence](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zTIMjfgv.m3u8) (1:01)  _Published 2015-09-21. Stewart Parnell, former CEO of Peanut Corp of America, may go to prison for life_ by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Sep 21, 2015 4:13 PM UTC  Getty Images; Photo Illustration by Alex Thebez for TIME by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Sep 21, 2015 4:13 PM UTC Stewart Parnell, a former peanut processing company CEO who has been convicted of a felony over a massive salmonella outbreak, will be sentenced Monday in a Georgia court, and he [could be going away for life](http://time.com/4035034/food-safety-peanuts/?xid=homepage). Families of the victims of the outbreak have sent the judge a letter asking for $500,000 in restitution for food safety groups. “We the victims of the Salmonella tainted peanut butter respectfully ask that you impose a monetary restitution fine of 500,000.00,” the families write in a letter to the U.S. District Court Judge W. Louis Sands, also shared with TIME. Parnell’s company Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) was the center of a 2008-2009 salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds of Americans—about half of them kids—and resulted in 9 deaths. Prosecutors argued that Parnell and his coworkers covered up food safety issues. **MORE:** [When Tainted Peanuts Could Mean Life in Prison](http://time.com/4035034/food-safety-peanuts/?xid=homepage) If the restitution funds are approved, the families are asking that the money be split among specific food safety organizations: STOP Foodborne Illness, Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention, Consumer Federation of America, National Consumers League and Food and Water Watch. “This request is designed to help further the food safety cause. We have lost our loved ones and have worked hard to help to prevent this from happening to others. Our request is not a selfish request, we only ask that you assign any monies, divided equally amongst the listed organizations; to aid families who have suffered or are suffering from food borne illnesses,” the letter reads. The victims write that medical expenses alone hurt their families, and they believe the restitution will help give them closure. “Those of us who have lost loved ones will be there to speak and you would help give us closure if we knew the organizations that helped us through a very rough time were funded to help others,” they write. The letter is signed by victims families represented by Randy Napier and Jeff Almer. Both Napier and Almer’s mothers died in the outbreak. Almer’s mother had recently survived brain cancer when she ate contaminated peanut butter at a hospice care center. “She had beaten cancer and what took her life was peanut butter,” Almer[ told TIME](http://time.com/4035034/food-safety-peanuts/?xid=homepage). ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] September 2008, peanut products produced by PCA and tested by private labs were found to be contaminated with salmonella. [ MUSIC ] In this container are products that have your ingredients in them. Some of which were on the recall list. Some of which are probably contaminated. Would any of you be willing to take the lid off and eat any of these products now? Like the people on the panel ahead of you? Their relatives, their loved ones. 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