Tainted peanut butter leads to $11.2M penalty a decade later

Food giant ConAgra is paying for a salmonella outbreak that sickened hundreds of Americans 10 years ago.

The president of a ConAgra conglomerate pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday on the company's behalf to a misdemeanor charge of shipping adulterated food. The case resulted from a 2006 outbreak traced to Peter Pan peanut butter produced in southwest Georgia.

A judge approved a plea deal that requires ConAgra to pay an $8 million fine — the highest criminal fine ever imposed in the U.S. for a foodborne illness. The company will also pay $3.2 million in cash forfeitures.