WASHINGTON – After news Friday that a federal jury in Albany, Ga., convicted corporate defendants in a food poisoning case that involved the deaths of three Minnesotans, Sen. Amy Klobuchar released a statement Saturday praising the verdict.

The Georgia case involved a salmonella outbreak from tainted peanut butter that led to nine deaths in 2008 and 2009.

Klobuchar’s statement said: “After more than five years of waiting, the families of those who were killed from the salmonella outbreak from contaminated peanut butter have finally seen justice. I called for the prosecution of this case, and while the verdict won’t erase the loss these families have suffered, it should send a crystal clear message to those who would knowingly sell tainted and dangerous food to unsuspecting customers. People like Shirley Almer, a grandmother and recovering cancer patient from Perham, Minnesota, should never have died from eating a simple piece of peanut ­butter toast.”

Stewart Parnell, former Peanut Corporation of America owner, was convicted of charges related to shipping tainted peanut butter to customers and faking results of lab tests. A plant manager also was convicted of hiding information about the plant’s salmonella problems.