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Water, sugar allegedly added to products marked 100% pure Associated Press DENVER — The Denver Dis trict Attorney's Office on Thurs day sued the Marquest fruit juice manufacturing company, claiming it has included water, sugar and preservatives in juices bearing labels that say they are 100 percent fresh-squeezed juice. The state Health Department also on Thursday embargoed 470 gallons of the firm’s juices. The Denver-based Marquest company distributes juices throughout Colorado under the names ‘‘Freshquest,”’ ‘‘O.J. of Aspen” and ‘Silverado Distributing.” The suit, filed Thursday in District Court, was filed against Marquest and its owner, Mark Bickler, under the Consumer Protection Act. The court could levy civil penalties of as much as $100,000. “We are alleging they say it’s 100 percent juice when they know other substances have been added,” said Deputy Dis trict Attorney Gertrude Grant. An outside complaint was is sued against Marquest, and tests determined the products to be “adulterated,” said Larry Berry man of the Health Department’s Consumer Protection Division. “We found that the firm was actually adding water and sugar to their supposed 100 percent fresh-squeezed orange juice, and also adding preservatives to their grapefruit and apple juices,’’ Berryman said. “This morning (Thursday) we went down and embargoed all the product that was at the man ufacturing firm, approximately 470 gallons of all three prod ucts,”’ he said. The firm had agreed to volun tarily remove the ‘‘adulterated”’ products from store shelves and replace it with ‘unadulterated’ juices, Berryman said. The juices aren’t tainted, he said, and labeling is the issue. “We're not considering this a health risk issue; it’s a health fraud issue, or a consumer fraud ” Berryman said. ‘‘We want the manufacturers to be aware that we are looking at consumer fraud type issues relative to their food products, and that they must put out a product that is indeed what they say it is,” he said.
Newspaper Details
Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph
Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
Fri, Apr 07, 1989
Page 20
Full Page
Clipped by
Csabbato C.
USA 02 Jul 2026
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