Juice Being Tested for Tampering

Sheriff’s investigators tested a juice carton Tuesday for possible contamination after finding a needle-sized hole in its top, and county officials warned the public to watch for signs of food product tampering.

“Simply as a precautionary measure, we recommend that the consumer examine food products for evidence of tampering,” Sgt. Liz Foster of the Sheriff’s Department said.

A North County man, whose name was not released, bought a case of Ocean Spray cranapple juice at the Price Club on the 700 block of Center Drive in San Marcos over the weekend and discovered a puncture in one carton’s foil-covered straw hole, Foster said.

The damaged 8.5-ounce container was taken to the sheriff’s crime lab for testing, Foster said.

“The puncture may have been made with anything from a splinter to a hypodermic needle,” Foster said. “It’s a small hole. There’s no direct evidence the product is contaminated. However, the possibility does exist.”

Ron Barry, a Sheriff’s Department criminalist, said he will be screening the juice product for the most common poisons and drugs over the next two days.

“We can only screen for certain things,” Barry said. “We may never be able to say the juice was toxic-free. There’s even a possibility that there is no toxin, but what makes this peculiar is that the puncture was directly in the center of the straw hole.”

Giles Bateman, chief financial officer of Price Co., said the four San Diego County stores will remove Ocean Spray cranapple juice from their shelves until test results are final.

Bateman declined to comment further on the problem.