Coronavirus: Grocery store tosses $35K in food after woman ‘purposely’ coughs on it, owner says

A Pennsylvania grocery store had to throw away more than $35,000 worth of food after a woman intentionally coughed on fresh produce, meat, baked items and other goods, the business' co-owner said in a Facebook post.

It happened Wednesday afternoon at Gerrity's Supermarket in Hanover Township, according to the post by co-owner Joe Fasula.

Today was a very challenging day. At 2:20 PM today, I got a call from our Hanover Township store. The manager informed...

Posted by Gerrity's Supermarket on Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Employees quickly got the woman out of the store and called police, the post said. The District Attorney's office reportedly told the store's owners they will be filing several charges. They're also working to make sure the woman is tested for COVID-19, according to the post.

Even though store managers believe the woman was doing it as a twisted prank, they didn’t want to take any chances and had to get rid of the food, the Facebook post said.

They are reportedly working with the health inspector and their insurance company to see if it will cover any of the losses, Fasulo said in the post.

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