Mold makes for juicy discovery

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Mold makes for juicy discovery

Welch's representatives removed tainted bottles of juice from a

Roanoke Food Lion.

Kincaid Boone

Roanoke,VA

http://www.roanoke.com/business/wb/wb/xp-55800

Look before you take a swig from your next cup of grape juice.

Bottles of Welch's white grape juice recently were removed from

shelves at a Roanoke Food Lion after a customer discovered that the

juice in at least five of the store's 8-ounce bottles was not indeed

white.

After testing the dark, rust-colored beverage sold last month at the

store, at Shenandoah Avenue and s Creek Road, a Roanoke

laboratory discovered that one of the bottles contained penicillium

mold. The Roanoke Times paid a testing laboratory to analyze the

juice.

Penicillium is the kind of mold that can form on bread and cheese,

and it usually isn't harmful, said Bruce Zoecklein, an enology

specialist at Virginia Tech.

Before discovering the mold, Deborah Oyler, a project manager with

Environmental Directions, the Roanoke lab, said she did not find any

bacteria in the product. And she could not determine the juice's

age. The expiration dates on all of the bottles had worn off.

" I definitely wouldn't drink the stuff, " Oyler said.

Welch's sales representatives removed the bottles as soon as the

customer notified the Welch's service center in Westfield, N.Y.,

about the tainted juice, said Carolyn Bills, a representative in

Welch's consumer affairs department. She said white grape juice

changes color over time.

When asked if the flavor of the Welch's juice would be altered in

its color change, Bills said " The flavor does change. It doesn't

have the good, fresh taste.

" The product may have been on the shelf for too long. " Still, she

said, " It would not cause illness. "

Grapes change color through an oxidation process, much the way

apples turn brown, said Bob Burgin, vice president at Chateau

ette, a winery in Floyd County. The color of white wine can

change, he said, and it may occur when a room's temperature gets

hot. Burgin said oxidation also can produce the beginnings of sherry

wine.

But just because someone is allergic to penicillin doesn't mean they

will have a reaction to penicillium mold, from which the antibiotic

is made, said Sumner, a professor in Virginia Tech's food

science and technology department. She said certain molds affect

people differently, and she has not known of anyone who was allergic

to penicillin and became ill when consuming penicillium mold.

Though, from a doctor's perspective, the mold may not make someone

sick, " that doesn't stop you from spitting it out and gagging or

throwing up, " Sumner said.

" From their [the consumers'] view, it will make them sick, " she

added.

Welch's has found mold in its juice at two other times during the

past year. The mold formed in these bottles when the seals came open

in the shipping process, Bills said.

Welch's products are pasteurized, which keeps them from molding

unless the product's seal is broken, she said.

" We're aware that this can happen from time to time, but it is

rare, " Bills said.

The company has not received any additional complaints from

customers about the spoiled beverage. Food Lion spokesman Jeff

Lowrance said the Food Lion store in Roanoke has not heard

complaints about the juice, either.

This is not the first time that a tainted Welch's beverage has made

news recently. Last month, churchgoers at a Baptist church in

Connecticut became ill after drinking what they believe was

contaminated grape juice during a communion service.

Police are investigating a nearby CVS where the juice was purchased,

according to news reports.