Former Sunnyside Fruit Processor Pleads Guilty to Tainted Food Charges

Following a lengthy FDA investigation that started in 2018, charges were levied against a former fruit processor in Sunnyside in 2022. Now, the owner has pleaded guilty.

  FDA began to investigate claims of tainted products

  Valley Processing, (VPI) which has been closed for several years, and its owner 83-year-old Mary Bleissner, came under FDA scrutiny after accusations were levied that for at least 7 years, they were selling tainted juice products to various clients, including Federal free and reduced school lunch programs.

According to the US Attorney's Office, numerous FDA inspections uncovered filthy unsanitary conditions at their facility known as VPI in Sunnyside.

Her company was accused of storing excess batches of juice in a facility on US Grape Road south of Sunnyside, in containers that were not clean or properly refrigerated.

She, according to Federal officials, told inspectors the building was unsafe and was not being used to store thousands of gallons of excess juice, but it was actually being utilized.

During one FDA inspection, some of the large containers had developed a hard moldy layer on top of the juice, one inspector said it was hard enough for a rat to run across. This, and other numerous violations, led to 12 indictments against the company.

Bleissner sold these tainted products to clients in Michigan, Ohio, Kansas and Lousiana, as well as overseas.

Now, Bleissner this week pleaded guilty to a pair of misdemeanor counts in US District Court in Spokane. The charges she and her company pleaded to include a fine of over $742,000.

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Her formal sentencing hearing will be on March 26th, 2025, at which time a Federal judge will also determine what sentence she will face, depending on guidelines.