Egg Executives Get 3 Months in Prison for 2010 Salmonella Outbreak
Austin “Jack” DeCoster (pictured left), owner of the now defunct Iowa-based Quality Egg LLC, and his son Peter DeCoster (pictured right) were both sentenced yesterday to 3 months in prison and 1 year of supervised release. Both defendants pleaded guilty in 2014 to a misdemeanor count of selling contaminated food across state lines.
Quality Egg was linked to a 2010 Salmonella outbreak that prompted a widespread egg recall and may have sickened an estimated 56,000 consumers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Both father and son were each fined $100,000, and their former egg company was hit with a $6.8 million fine.