Local cider mill ordered to close for violating state law

A state law passed last year forcing all apple cider producers to pasteurize their product is now catching up to some local farmers who for years refused to do so. Health inspectors say pasteurization kills e-coli bacteria that can be found in some apples when they've dropped on the ground. Cider producers have to boil the apples before they're made into juice. One cider maker in Victor says the law is hurting his business.

Munir Bahai's apple cider mill hasn't been this quiet in years.

"Every single apple that goes in that line is inspected," said Munir Bahai, owner of The Apple Farm.

Last Wednesday, health inspectors told Bahai to stop producing unpasteurized cider, a big blow to his 36-year-old business.

"This is my biggest weekend actually, I sell more cider this weekend than around Thanksgiving. I'm selling zero," said Bahai.

Costing Bahai more than $4,500 in sales. Now he has bottles of fresh cider sitting in his refrigerator waiting to be poured down the drain.

"I personally made the cider. I don't delegate it to anybody," said Bahai.

For years, Bahai would drop apples from his orchard into this machine to be washed and polished. Any rotten apples would be dumped out. Only the good ones make it through the conveyor belt.

"Every single apple that goes in that line is inspected. There's an inspection table if you look at every apple that goes by after they're washed. And I always tell people that if the apple you can't eat it, it won't go into cider," said Bahai.

And that's what sets his cider apart, according to his customers.

"It's really unfair to enact this law against him when it was other unsanitary producers who caused the problem," said Elizabeth McInerney, a Brighton resident.

McInerney travels from Brighton to buy Bahai's apple cider simply because...

"It tastes better," said McInerney.

So in order to keep the unpasteurized taste and comply with state law, Bahai is now investing in a $19,000 ultraviolet machine that zaps the juice to kill any bacteria. But he does so reluctantly.

"To me it's like taking your car to the garage to be fixed and there's nothing wrong with it," said Bahai.

Customers waiting to buy Bahai's liquid apples will have to wait a few more weeks. The ultraviolet machine he ordered will take at least two weeks to deliver. And Bahai says unfortunately he may have to raise cider prices to make up for the cost of the machine.