SUNNYSIDE, Wash.-The Owner and President of a former Sunnyside fruit juice company pleaded guilty to breaking federal food safety laws for selling tainted fruit juice products.
Mary Ann Bliesner, 83, the former Owner and President of the now-closed Valley Processing, Inc. pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
According to the Department of Justice, Bliesner pleaded guilty to failing to register a food facility with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and to a misdemeanor violation regarding failure to prevent and correct VPI’s introduction of adulterated grape juice concentrate into interstate commerce.
VPI pleaded guilty to conspiracy to introduce adulterated and misbranded fruit juice into interstate commerce, including selling tainted fruit juice to customers between 2012 and 2019.
Bliesner and VPI agreed to pay a criminal forfeiture amount of $742,139 as part of the plea agreement, according to the DOJ.
VPI also admitted that it misrepresented the age and quality of its products to customers and that the product stored at its Grape Road facility was adulterated, unsafe and unfit for consumption.
According to a DOJ press release on the plea deal, VPI reportedly blended grape juice concentrate, which was stored outside the VPI facility for years and exposed to the elements, with newer grape juice concentrate, and sold the resulting blended grape juice product as new.
An FDA investigation and testing confirmed that grape juice concentrate at the facility was contaminated with bird and rodent feces, fur, insects, decaying remains of animals, mold, yeast and other contaminants.
FDA inspectors also observed and photographed a live rat walking across the hardened crust that had formed on top of the grape juice concentrate.
