PA Cheese Firms Plead Guilty in Wood Pulp Case

A woman whose family controls several western Pennsylvania cheese-making firms will plead guilty to charges that their grated cheese had too little cheese and too much wood pulp.

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PITTSBURGH (AP) — A woman whose family controls several western Pennsylvania cheese-making firms will plead guilty — along with two of her companies — to charges that their grated cheese had too little cheese and too much wood pulp.

Michelle Myrter is scheduled to plead guilty Friday morning before a federal judge in Pittsburgh. She'll also be pleading guilty on behalf of International Packing LLC and Universal Cheese and Drying Inc.

The two Slippery Rock-based businesses were accused of mislabeling products made by family-owned Castle Cheese. Myrter is vice president of Castle and an officer in the other firms.

A defense attorney for the company declined to comment in advance of the guilty pleas.

Myrter faces up to a year in prison and a $500,000 fine.

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