November 11,2020: A company that supplied a federal school lunch program sold juice with high levels of arsenic and used rotten fruit in their product, the Food and Drug Administration charged in a new lawsuit, according to a report.
In the suit, which was filed in federal court in Washington state against the company Valley Processing, food safety inspectors said they found high levels of arsenic in 17 batches of apple juice and two batches of pear juice during a 2019 inspection, The New York Times reported.
Investigators also found high levels of a toxin produced by rotting or moldy apples and pears in the company’s juice, according to the report.
Instead of fixing the problem, according to the suit, the company changed its standards and produced more juice that had been made from rotting fruit.
FDA inspectors saw more than 40 rotting apples pass through a sorting process while observing the company, according to the suit.