4. Peanut Corp. of America
Peanut Corp. of America used to be a small, private peanut processor from Georgia. Unfortunately, it was closed in 2009 because of a salmonella outbreak that caused numerous illnesses and 12 fatalities.
Now, what is different here is the fact that Peanut Corp. of America was not the only company that was affected by this. There were also a lot of other companies that used their products. The Salmonella outbreak triggered the largest food recall in US history, affecting 360 firms and over 4,000 items containing the company’s components.
By February 2009, Peanut Corp. had declared bankruptcy and gone out of business. Meanwhile, one of the top executives of this company was sentenced to 28 years in prison for his part in the epidemic.
